


Monster

by vaguelynormal



Category: DBSK | Tohoshinki | TVfXQ | TVXQ
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, Dubious Consent, M/M, Tentacles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-20
Updated: 2018-05-20
Packaged: 2019-05-09 07:25:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14711706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vaguelynormal/pseuds/vaguelynormal
Summary: Changmin has a schoolboy crush. He also has tentacles.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> IMPORTANT: This is actually a friend from vaguelynormal posting these. He let me use his ao3 account to transfer his fics from other pages to here, so they wouldnt get lost, since i couldnt convince him to do it himself lol. So yeah! 
> 
> Originally created on September 05 of 2011

The screech of alarms has Jaejoong jumping out of his bunker and sliding into his flight suit. He leaves it half unzipped and grabs his gloves and glasses off the table on his way up deck. Jaejoong’s first thought is an incoming attack from a rogue ship and he yells at the people scattering though the hull in a panic to get to their posts. He swings past the engine room but all seems to be in order and he can’t feel the ship making any changes off course. It clicks in his mind exactly where the problem is and he runs full pelt to the med bay.

‘Yoochun, what’s going on?’ Jaejoong slides into the observation room. It only takes a moment to see exactly what has caused Yoochun to raise the alarm.

‘It’s Changmin, or rather his parasite,’ Yoochun tampers frantically with the controls. ‘Yunho went in to check on Changmin as per routine and suddenly it attacked.’

‘I want a lock down,’ Jaejoong presses fingertips into the control board, ‘Consider them all quarantined. How’s Changmin’s status?’

Jaejoong watches in horror as Yunho is tossed into the air through the glass observation deck outside the med bay. Thick red tentacles hold his struggling form captive, wrapping around limbs and binding him in an arched bow. Yunho’s scream is cut off when a tentacle forces its way into his mouth, filling his throat.

Jaejoong flicks the intercom, ‘Don’t bite, Jung. We don’t know what it’s made of isn’t harmful yet.’ He switches off the mic and turns to Yoochun, ‘Do we?’

‘No, though I’m running scans now,’ Yoochun presses a switch, ‘Changmin’s still in stasis- no gasses seem to keep the life form dormant.’

‘Brain activity looks normal,’ Jaejoong peers at the information on his screen then back over to the stasis tub where the tentacles seem to multiply from, ‘We can’t send anyone in there when it’s attacking, can we administer a sedative from here?’

‘Not without endangering Yunho,’ Yoochun pulls at his hair in frustration and turns off the alarm, unable to cope with the noise.

They watch as the dexterous appendages rip through Yunho’s flight suit and set to work encasing every inch of skin, sliding dangerously over his bare torso to wrap around his waist. Yunho’s muffled cries increase as the man frantically tries to wrench his arms free, kicking and twisting to no avail. Jaejoong finds himself mesmerized as one more works its way into Yunho’s mouth, another tentacle tugging on his cock.

‘He might prefer to be unconscious right now,’ Jaejoong flips through screens, running through options. He glances over his shoulder to see the medical staff frozen in horror watching the alien life form splay Yunho’s legs wide. ‘What the fuck are you all doing? I said this is a lock down! Prevent that thing from getting out here!’ Jaejoong growls and when they scatter he locks off the deck to just a few select staff.

‘Junsu,’ Jaejoong calls to the nurse, ‘Did Yunho antagonise or threaten the host or parasite in any way?’

Junsu wrings his hands, ‘No sir, Yunho was checking vitals and the tub.’

‘Shit,’ Jaejoong curses, unable to tear his eyes away as a thick red tentacle slowly crawls its way up Yunho’s thigh, towards the small curve of his ass. Yunho squirms harder, pulling in harsh breaths through his nose as it nudges its way in between the flesh, jolting when its wet tip prods at his hole. ‘Yoochun, do something.’

‘I’ve tried putting it under, it’s unaffected,’ Yoochun snaps, wincing as Yunho’s filled slowly and all the appendages seem to shiver in delight. ‘It only succeeded in knocking Yunho out and even then the parasite persisted.’

‘Get me a temperature reading on the thing, now!’ Jaejoong turns to the technician on his left.

The wide lengths twist their way up around Yunho’s ankles and calves, circling his thighs and squeezing, pulling the man impossibly stretched. A cherry red tentacle pumps in and out of the man’s hole, another in his mouth, the rhythm synced. Yunho’s skin is covered in a faint layer of slime and Jaejoong doesn’t understand why Yunho has to keep swallowing painfully around the length in his mouth until another tentacle sprays his chest white, other tentacles joining to slide through the mess until Yunho’s body is covered. 

They seem to rub soothingly at his skin though Yunho is shaking for breath and panics when one curls around his throat, suction pads protruding to delicately draw the skin at his neck. Thinner tendrils appear and tighten around Yunho’s cock, squeezing and tugging roughly until he’s hard, others drawing his balls away from his body. They seem to inundate all Yunho’s senses, dragging through his hair, flicking at his ear and another attempts to ease its way into Yunho’s stretched asshole.

Junsu seems to stumble into a chair beside Yoochun and Jaejoong, ‘Wh-What if it’s trying to lay eggs? More parasites?’

‘Then we’re fucked,’ Jaejoong says, itching to punch something and hard as a rock in his flight suit. ‘Those two will be quarantined, I want no one near the wing unless they’re armed and in bio suits.’ Jaejoong realises the futility of his order but he needs some semblance of control as an orgasm is torn from Yunho’s body and the man’s limbs go slack in the tentacles hold.

‘You think if he passes out it’ll keep going?’ Yoochun mutters, scanning the room again. ‘There’s a flux in brain activity, Changmin appears to be in a dream state.’

‘Can’t be accurate, he’s too heavily sedated,’ A tech flicks at the controls.

‘Drain the tub,’ Jaejoong stands abruptly, ‘Wake him up.’

‘Sir,’ Junsu tries to keep pace beside Jaejoong as the Commander strides along the viewing deck but his eyes keep drifting to the scene behind the glass of Yunho’s tanned, muscular body overwrought with thick red tentacles, stretching him open, legs splayed wide. ‘Sir, it’s too sudden- it could have drastic affects on both Changmin and the life form-‘

‘Wake him up,’ Jaejoong turns to stare down anyone else who might protest, ‘Now. And make sure the doors and vents are properly sealed.’


	2. You Don't Dream In Stasis

Yunho wakes up on an examination bed in a room so white it could only be the med bay. He groans and tries to pull himself up into a sitting position, only to find his arms are weak and an IV in the crease of his elbow. A hand pushes him back down and it’s then Yunho realises he’s naked.

‘We’re almost done,’ Yoochun’s face comes into view behind the plastic window in his bio suit. 

‘What’s going on?’ Yunho’s voice sounds scratched when he tries to speak and he realises how dry his lips are.

‘We’re running a few final tests before we know you’re clear,’ Yoochun says carefully, voice devoid of emotion as though anticipating Yunho’s anger. ‘You’re dehydrated and weak- you’ve been sedated for three days.’

A hand lifts his leg up, bending him at the knee and Yunho jerks, a weak kick in defence but Yoochun merely pushes his leg higher before rolling Yunho onto his side. Yoochun holds his leg bent up near his chest and Yunho’s slow to understand until he feels a gloved finger rub cold lubricant over his entrance. He’s about to curse Yoochun to the nineteenth planet when something cold and impersonal is pushed inside him. The metal tool is turned inside him and Yunho impulsively clenches down and Yoochun has some difficulty tugging the instrument back out. 

Yunho rolls onto his back as soon as it’s out, ‘What the fuck is going on here, Yoochun?’ He sits up, ignoring the dizzy spin he feels and the sting in his ass.

‘Are you going to tell me you don’t remember?’ Yoochun strips off his gloves, the latex snapping as he does so. There’s another pair of gloves underneath, built into his suit.

Yunho shakes his head as the man throws the gloves in the trash.

‘We were worried the parasite had laid eggs of some kind,’ Yoochun spreads a blanket over Yunho’s lap and leans against the examination bed, ‘We’ve run full scans and analysis and I’d say you’re in the clear but for now you’re quarantined.’

Yunho scowls, ‘Why the fuck did it attack me? Everyone else was fine.’

‘I’d say that’s because it recognised you as something familiar and desirable,’ Yoochun looks Yunho in the eyes.

‘What the fuck?’ Yunho growls, ‘Just say it plain.’ Yunho wrestles to get off the bed but is too weak to move without running out of breath and he pauses.

Yoochun readjusts the blanket as it slips off Yunho’s waist, ‘Fine. I’d say it attacked you because Changmin has a thing for you.’

‘What? Changmin?’ Yunho thinks of the quiet young field researcher with the dark eyes, the one he’s been caring for in stasis and Yunho can count the number of times they’ve spoken before the kid was infected on one hand. ‘We don’t even know each other!’

‘Well why would it target you and not the other six reasonably attractive nurses we’ve had attending him?’ Yoochun shrugs, ‘Changmin was always watching you, I’ve been thinking about it for a while and it makes sense. The waves scan suggested he was having a dream on the night it attacked you.’ 

Yunho gapes a little- it’s a ridiculously implausible theory and he can’t wrap his head around the idea that someone he barely knows might like him, still refusing to acknowledge the parasitic rape. He shakes his head to clear his thoughts, ‘You don’t dream in stasis.’

‘Changmin was,’ Yoochun shrugs again and Yunho thinks he makes a lousy scientist, ‘Must have been a very happy little dream,’ He smirks.

Yunho flushes a little, ‘You’re talking bullshit, Yoochun. Now get me out of here.’

Yoochun laughs, pushing off from the bed and heading towards the detox chamber, ‘You can ask him yourself if you want, he’s awake and in the next room.’

Yunho throws a metal dish at the door as it clicks shut behind him. He curls up on his side under the thin blanket, wishing the air circulated properly here like it did back in his bunk. He thinks of asking Changmin in the room next door but he’s terrified of a kid he’d always regarded as polite but far too quiet. He rolls onto his front so that the cameras won’t catch him crying.

 

They give him his nurses scrubs in a careful shade of blue instead of the usual white but Yunho doesn’t have the energy to be bitter about it for long. His skin is pale and little rows of delicate sucker shaped love bites colour his skin in intimate places. It’s not what Yunho wants to see and he covers what mirrors he can in his wing in the med bay. Yunho takes out the intravenous himself, there’s a fridge in the room and when he feels comfortable eating small portions of the bland freeze-dried rations, he does. He makes no attempt to leave the room, he’s still angry he’s been left defenceless in such close proximity to the thing that attacked him but if he’s going to exit the wing, it’ll be through the main door.

 

Jaejoong slips into a chair beside Yoochun, glaring until the other staff take their leave. ‘How is our patient?’ He asks quietly.

Yoochun brings up the surveillance on both Yunho and Changmin’s rooms, ‘Yunho isn’t showing much of a mental capacity for recovery at the moment- his body will be fine when he eats more and takes the anxiety pills I prescribed.’

Jaejoong watches Yunho sit on the exam table, staring off into the distance a faint echo of his normal warm self, ‘He hasn’t made an attempt to leave?’

‘Not yet,’ Yoochun shakes his head, ‘I’m not sure that he will be responsive to treatment if he stays in one room. Yunho hates being locked up and he’s scared of being alone.’

Jaejoong shivers a little in the cold, ‘I want psych in there, and this kept as quiet as possible. Does he have access codes for the other door?’

Yoochun nods, making a note in the computer, ‘He won’t go in though.’

‘What about Changmin?’

‘All scans have come back without variance. The alien parasite is still mutated to the skin and flesh- removing it would take extensive surgery and its leeched itself into several organs. It seems dormant at the moment and seems to make appearances according to Changmin’s emotions, you can see it shift under his shirt when he’s in a dream state.’ Yoochun brings up footage cataloguing the previous nights.

‘Are you trying to tell me you can’t operate?’ Jaejoong leans in, frowning as he watches the image of a sleeping Changmin with red tendrils writhing out from under seemingly flawless skin in mere seconds, a small smile on the man’s face as he dreams.

‘No, but there might be someone who can at an army base,’ Yoochun closes the footage, allowing the screen to flick back to Changmin who is doing push-ups off the floor. ‘They’re far more qualified to dealing with infections and mutations off the base planets- it’s more common. I’m not sure how to treat him, stasis did not prolong the completion process and we’ve yet to have another reaction like the incident again.’

‘Let’s not allow that to happen again,’ Jaejoong gives Yoochun a warning glance, ‘I mean it, Yoochun- you shoot the host if you have to, I will not endanger the rest of the crew.’

Yoochun frowns but he nods anyway, trying to fight off the exhaustion of watching his friend through glass for over a week.

 

Changmin rifles through the kitchen compartments for something different than the contents from the last time he looked ten minutes before. He sighs, settling on a couple of cans and debating the rehydrated meat. He’s bored enough to flip through a recipe book by a famous explorer who retired to open a chain of restaurants in one of the galaxies. Changmin’s not impressed by the pompous suggestions and ingredients but the pictures look nice. He pulls back the tab on a can, eyes glossing over a page when he suddenly winces as the metal slices into his thumb. He curses, pushing aside the tin to run his hand under the sink, watching blood flow quickly with the water. Changmin sticks his thumb in his mouth but it continues to throb and sting, the taste of copper on his tongue and he enters the code to the med bay with his good hand.

The door slides open with a light hiss of air decompressing and Changmin winces at the harsher lighting in the exam room. He spots cabinets across the room and steps quickly towards them when his eyes flicker over Yunho who is frozen in shock, sitting on a bed a few metres away. Changmin’s a little bit giddy to have someone to talk to after weeks in the solitude of quarantine.

‘Hi,’ He offers an unusually enthusiastic greeting, dropping his hand to smile at Yunho.

Yunho’s still stiff with fear and Changmin falters, ‘Can you tell me where we keep antiseptic and stuff?’

The man blinks, eyes wide and his mouth opens a little but no words come out and he points to Changmin’s right. Changmin thanks him and rifles through the cupboard, drawing out a bottle of antiseptic and a packet of bandages. Yunho watches him wrestle with the childproof cap on the bottle for few long moments, fingers slipping with blood before he slides off the table and makes his way over. Yunho opens the bottle with ease, placing it on the counter before moving to the sink to wash off Changmin’s blood.

‘Fuck,’ Changmin says as he rips the paper off a sticking plaster with his teeth, immediately smearing red over the bandage before he has a chance to wrap it on.

Yunho pulls it from his grasp, tossing it in the disposal unit and before Changmin can growl, he’s taken Changmin’s hand in his and begun putting pressure on the wound. When the blood slows, the nurse cleans the cut.

‘Thanks,’ Changmin offers, hissing as the sting of the antiseptic burrows into the wound.

The man continues to say nothing, cleaning the surrounding skin meticulously and inspecting the wound close to his face. Changmin takes a moment to fully look at Yunho and he thinks the man looks more haggard and exhausted than the first time Changmin ever met him when a whole ship went down in a training module. He feels guilt spear through his stomach and his lower back twitches under his shirt.

‘I’m not very good in the kitchen it seems,’ Changmin gestures at his hand. He’s never had a knack for small talk but there’s an intense pressure for him to speak and he’s frantically scouring his thoughts for something to say. 

Yunho nods, eyes tired and sunken, ‘It’s deep, but not enough for stitches and not worth the resources of using the flesh-repair,’ he says quietly.

‘Oh,’ Changmin looks back at the wound parting the pad of his thumb, watching as Yunho traces a cotton tip of sealant over the cut, the liquid helping to knit the skin as he wraps a clean sticking plaster around his thumb. ‘You stitched me up the first time I was here- remember?’

Yunho shakes his head tiredly, moving to wash his hands.

‘Here,’ Changmin traces fingers over his eyebrow, remembering stitches so delicate and meticulous he’s left with barely a hint of a scar but Yunho isn’t looking. ‘And here,’ He pats his knee and thinks of the long white line that trails from his outer knee and down his shin from when his shuttle compacted in the crash. ‘I guess you were busy that day, but I remember because you told me I was stupid.’

Yunho looks up and Changmin smiles when he realises the man is still listening, ‘You said I was stupid to fight for something I didn’t really believe in and when I said that I did believe in our cause and you nearly yelled that I couldn’t possibly when it’s all just propagandist shit spewed from the financial giants who think they own the sky.’

‘I don’t remember,’ Yunho says softly and Changmin knows he’s lying but can’t bring himself to argue when he remembers how many dead bodies were there that day and how many were just children. 

‘I liked it,’ Changmin stares Yunho in the eye, ‘You said boys shouldn’t play heroes and I thought you were a cool nurse. I quit and became a researcher after that,’ Changmin grins, he was barely seventeen then and so surprised at being scolded for his first commendable war injuries.

‘Right,’ Yunho nods and sinks into a chair and Changmin worries the nurse looks faint, ‘You shouldn’t use that hand much for a week or so, keep it dry,’ he instructs, closing his eyes for a moment.

‘I suppose that’ll be okay,’ Changmin smiles cheekily, ‘I have a bit of an excess of appendages at the moment anyway.’

Changmin’s face falls when he sees Yunho tense up, clearly frightened and he apologises, ‘I’m sorry, it’s just a joke- a bad joke.’ Changmin steps forward to comfort Yunho but drops back when the man flinches, ‘I’m so sorry, Yoochun told me…’ his voice softens, ‘You have to understand that it wasn’t me- I would never- I’m so sorry.’ Changmin touches Yunho’s shoulder gently and the man wrenches away, standing to distance himself across the room.

‘Please just leave me alone,’ Yunho begs under his breath, eyes on the floor, arms tightly wrapped around himself.

Changmin nods, swallowing his guilt as he opens the door and walks back into his room. He’s no longer hungry.

 

Yunho isn’t the type to break down and cry often. He can be strong, a little quieter and tenser than normal but he’ll still smile at the shrink who comes to visit him in a full bio suit. The incident isn’t something he wants to dwell on and though humiliating, he knows deep down it’s not the worst that could happen, nor Changmin’s fault. It still feels hard to breathe whenever Changmin lets himself into the med bay though, even when the man is insufferably nice and more talkative than Yunho knows him to be, filling in all of Yunho’s silences.

It’s difficult to let go of fear and Yunho has trouble sleeping without sedatives. Whenever he does finally fall into a slumber he begins to feel a sense of peace, wrapped up in a cocoon of warmth and safety that makes him sad to wake from.

 

It takes only a few weeks of awkward socialisation before the Commander decides that it’s beneficiary to Yunho’s recovery for Yunho to conduct the experiments on Changmin himself. It doesn’t seem fair to Yunho who thinks he’s done perfectly well considering the circumstances and only passed out in a panic attack twice- both times after Changmin became angry with him. Changmin, however, doesn’t seem to mind as he sits shirtless on the exam bed waiting for Yunho to begin. Changmin holds perfectly still as Yunho’s fingertips skirt over his lower back where the parasite has taken hold. The skin remains unblemished, Yunho’ sure he’s just being paranoid that it shifts a little when he moves away.

‘Can you feel its presence?’ Yunho picks up a pen and clipboard to record information.

Changmin shakes his head, ‘Not really, only when they want to come out.’

‘They?’ Yunho questions.

‘It,’ Changmin corrects.

‘When do you most often get the feeling that it wants to come out?’

‘I don’t know if I should-‘

‘Just answer the question,’ Yunho sighs, settling into a chair at his desk.

Changmin nods, ‘When I’m angry, or horny or around you.’

Yunho does his best not to blanch but his face pales, ‘I see,’ he says calmly. ‘And do you feel it having an influence over your mind?’

Changmin sighs and dangles his legs a little from the bed, ‘It doesn’t, it’s more like I influence it.’

‘So you feel you can control the parasite? To release and use the…appendages at will?’ Yunho looks uncomfortable, but he meets Changmin’s eyes for a moment.

‘I don’t think so,’ Changmin picks at his pants, frustrated with the line of enquiry already, ‘They just do what I might happen to think about doing.’

Yunho looks at him in surprise, ‘W-What?’

‘I like you, I’ve often thought about having you that way,’ Changmin says honestly, looking Yunho in the eyes, ‘Albeit whenever I fantasized about fucking you it wasn’t with a dozen or more alien tentacles or by force, but I think that’s why I’m aware of them when I’m around you.’

Yunho looks distinctly upset and confused by his confession, shifting in his seat, ‘But it hasn’t come out s-since…’

Changmin has to close his eyes for a moment; he knows he’s said the wrong thing. It’s not how he wanted to tell Yunho, it’s completely unromantic and whilst Changmin’s not big on the semantics of clichéd dating rituals and romantic idealism, it’s fairly clear that Yunho is. Yoochun had told him earlier in the week that whilst Yunho liked men and attracted his fair share, choosing partners was never something he took lightly. His back twitches and without a sound a thick red tentacle breaks from the surface, trailing its way over to comfort Yunho. Changmin doesn’t realise what’s happening until Yunho’s breath hitches and sticks his cry to the back of his throat. His eyes snap open and though he senses that the parasite is well meaning in its desire to hold Yunho, it’s obvious that Yunho is panicking. 

Yunho quickly stands, edging towards the door and Changmin slides of the bed, boxing Yunho against the desk, ‘It’s okay, they just want to comfort you,’ Changmin cups Yunho’s face in his hands, willing the man to breathe deeply.

‘I’m not feeling very comforted,’ Yunho pushes at his bare chest a little, eyes watching the tentacle. The tentacle runs up Yunho’s back, curling gently around Yunho’s waist and Changmin nearly shudders with pleasure. He resists pressing Yunho into the table and taking the man’s plump lower lip between his teeth but only just and more tentacles make their way out of his body. 

‘I know,’ Changmin whispers, ‘but they won’t hurt you, they just want to touch.’

Yunho wriggles as more begin to run up his body and he bats at them, none too gently. It irritates Changmin as he can feel the need to touch Yunho, to feel skin and every hit against the parasitic tendrils feels like a personal affront. He grits his teeth, concentrating on rationalising Yunho’s behaviour and he grabs hold of Yunho’s wrists in his hands, holding them down. ‘Please,’ Changmin says softly, ‘Please. I’m not a monster. I’ll let you study them while they’re out just don’t run away from me.’

Yunho looks at him warily, not willing to trust but sharp-minded enough to attempt to bargain his way out and take his best chance of an escape, ‘G-Get on the examination table.’

Changmin obeys, pulling back to lie down on his stomach, tentacles still wrapped loosely around Yunho’s body and itching to tighten if he moves to run. Yunho moves closer, attempting to shrug off the ones that impair his arms and leaning forward to inspect the source. His hands brush over where the skin seems to expand to make room for the dozens of tentacles in varying sizes. Tentatively, Yunho brings himself to touch the thick base of the slick appendages, finding them to be surprisingly firm yet supple and he parts them a little. Yunho’s amazed to find no exposed flesh of Changmin’s back is visible, simply a writhing mass of smooth red feelers when he’s done tracing them back to the root, the base is not dissimilar to Changmin’s skin, merely a dark shade of red. 

Changmin hums as shaking hands grasp at the base of their connection to his body, wrapping gentle fingers around the thick shafts to shift through them. He feels little rows of suckers become pronounced like goose bumps at Yunho’s touch and the tentacles wrapping around Yunho’s legs seem to vibrate a little in pleasure. 

‘Oh god, it feels like you’re playing with my…’ Yunho’s hands freeze, ‘Hair or something.’ Changmin can’t help but smile a little, shifting his hips for Yunho to continue and half certain a limb or two is drawing patterns up Yunho’s back to gain his attention.

Yunho’s fingertips press into a sucker on a larger tentacle and Changmin can feel the echo of the sensation as it dips into an intimate spot, the tentacles waving a little in discomfort. Changmin sits up when Yunho suddenly pulls away and he sees the man writing notes. ‘What?’ He asks, a little frightened that Yunho’s probably disgusted by him.

‘They secrete from pores not the suckers,’ Yunho mumbles, slapping at the tentacle that tries to pull him back over to Changmin. ‘And from the tips too,’ Yunho eyes the pointed curve of a tendril near his chest.

Changmin feels them flicker at the memory but although Changmin’s seen the surveillance footage of that night, he finds it difficult to believe, ‘Weird.’

Yunho’s eyes widen, ‘You don’t think it really means to lay eggs do you?’ Yunho’s hand brushes over his stomach.

Changmin thinks of Yunho’s stomach swelling with his child and finds himself mildly aroused, ‘I don’t see why it would need to, it infected me through a tear in my flight suit and I barely noticed bar the initial pain.’

‘I should collect samples,’ Yunho nods, concentrating on his work rather than the fear quelling in his chest. He pulls out a sterilized blade, ripping open the packet and Changmin flinches, tentacles immediately holding Yunho’s arms captive. ‘It’s just a scraping of cells from the base matter and a couple of swabs of the fluids.’ Yunho looks at him as though he’s being childish but the tentacles do not relinquish their hold. ‘I wonder if you’re protecting it because it’s influencing you to maintain a safe host body.’

‘I’m not protecting it,’ Changmin objects, ‘I don’t control it- it’s protecting itself- I just don’t want it to hurt.’

Yunho looks like he’s trying not to laugh, but he steps forward, even with the tight grip on his arms, ‘I don’t think I’d use a blade this small to hack one off if I was going to.’ The tentacles ease their hold slightly and Yunho’s hand sifts through the large mass sprawling from Changmin’s lower back. There’s a light repetitive scrape and the clink of a Petri dish and then a swipe of neo-cotton over the length of a tendril. Changmin feels Yunho grab hold of one near the end of the length and shudders when he prods at the tip.

‘Does it hurt?’ Yunho asks when he sees Changmin’s reaction.

‘No, it just feels a bit odd.’

Yunho gives him a look of pure curiosity that’s so free of fear it stirs something inside Changmin’s stomach, warming his cheeks. A couple of feelers sway in satisfaction and the one in Yunho’s hand shoots out creamy white fluid. It takes both of them by surprise and Changmin can’t help but laugh as Yunho looks at his hand in shock for a good moment before pulling himself together and collecting it for testing. Yunho washes his hands afterward and writes more notes before trying to peel off the tentacle that’s wrapped around his thigh.

‘That’s all for today,’ Yunho hands Changmin back his shirt.

Changmin pauses, ‘I don’t think they want to go back in, I’m telling you I don’t control them.’

‘But you can feel what they feel and sense the parasite’s intentions? That doesn’t make sense if they’re a separate entity, especially when they feed off your emotions,’ Yunho frowns, swatting at one with his clipboard and Changmin grits his teeth.

‘What do you expect me to do?’ Changmin tries not to seethe, sensing the need to hurt and it scares him how intense his emotions are since he became infected.

‘I expect you to control your emotions and them because if they touch me again I will shove this pen right through one of them,’ Yunho threatens holding his pen above the tentacle wrapping around his waist. ‘I’m not interested in you Changmin, nor will I be - you terrify me.’

Changmin knows Yunho’s just being honest and there’s a lot of trauma the man was having difficulty moving on from but it stings none the less and he feels the tentacles writhing, eager to tighten and shake Yunho’s fragile body. 

‘Get them off me,’ Yunho scowls, fingers digging in to peel the tentacles off and breathing unsteady with increasing panic.

‘Stop it,’ Changmin slides of the table again, grabbing Yunho’s wrists a little rougher than intended, ‘You’re making it worse – they’re not going to hurt you.’

Tears well up in Yunho’s eyes and Changmin drains of all frustration at the sight, knowing he’s the cause of all the man’s anguish and grief. He releases Yunho’s wrists, only to pull the man into a hug, tucking Yunho’s face in his neck and running a hand through the nurse’s hair. Yunho sobs into his shoulder, body wracked with misery, ‘I’m sorry,’ Changmin murmurs as red tendrils encase them and Yunho loses consciousness.


	3. Fever

It’s another week before Yunho’s released from quarantine. Changmin’s told through the intercom and he tries his best to hide his disappointment. They give him work to do, small reports to write up and he gets his computer brought in. As much as Changmin enjoys solitude, he finds himself lonely without the option of talking to anyone. He’s restricted from contacting anyone off the ship and those on board are too afraid of him to visit; it doesn’t take Changmin long to hack into the surveillance cameras, exploring the decks and watching his colleagues go about their shifts. He observes as Jaejoong punches a drunken mechanic in the gut, confiscating the man’s alcohol and lab techs testing fuel in the engine room. He finds them interesting in their menial existence of habitual and often destructive behaviour. Mostly, Changmin watches Yunho, seeking the man out on every deck.

Yunho holds himself with a quiet grace and dignity he hadn’t seen in their confinement together. The nurse remains friendly, composed and polite, accepting the change of attitude on ship and ignoring the whispers and pitying glances. Many look at him with fear or revulsion and Changmin winces at the treatment but Yunho never acts like a victim and to his credit, never says a bad word about Changmin to anyone, even though he’s often prompted to. Changmin quickly switches the audio off, unable to withstand the whispers of gossip infecting the ship and the way even Yunho’s best friend, Junsu, can’t look Yunho in the eye. It doesn’t take much to discover the inactivated lens in Yunho’s bunk and he finds himself switching it on, incapable of sleeping himself until the shudders beneath blankets stop and Yunho’s cried himself to sleep. Changmin knows he’s a little bit in love, for the most part obsessed and he sleeps, dreaming of holding Yunho every night.

 

Yunho hesitates outside Changmin’s door. He’s been washed down in the bio suit but he feels more than little bit stupid when he knows just how strong the parasite’s tentacles are and just how quickly they could probably tear through limbs. Yunho punches in the code and presses fingertips into the gel pad by the door, stepping inside after the airlock hisses its release. Changmin is sprawled on the couch, tight white t-shirt stretched over his broadening chest and faded blue denim jeans. Yunho’s a little surprised how good quarantine has been on Changmin, the man putting on healthy weight and toning muscles in his boredom.

‘Hey,’ Yunho raises a hand in greeting and Changmin shuffles to sit upright.

‘Yunho,’ Changmin smooths down his hair and Yunho smiles at the gesture, ‘Hi.’

Yunho unzips the bio suit, it’s too hot and sticky inside and he doesn’t care much for the impersonal approach when Changmin’s already seen the worst of him, not to mention he’s been exposed constantly and intimately with the parasite over the past months. ‘Have you had lunch yet?’ Yunho throws the empty suit over the side of the couch, kicking off his shoes to slump on the couch beside Changmin.

‘N-No,’ Changmin stutters nervously and Yunho thinks for a moment that maybe he’s got the upper hand for the first time in weeks. ‘Not yet.’

Yunho reminds himself Changmin is young, somewhat sheltered and oddly naïve considering how far he’s progressed in his career. It’s easy for med staff to take positions on most of the stations and a few big company ships but quite unusual for companies to take on inexperienced, new scientists on research expeditions. Still, it should be easier for Yunho as the senior staff with several galaxy tours under his belt to feel comfortable around a junior, even one who looks every inch more composed, capable and intelligent than himself. Especially when Changmin almost drops the can he’s opening in eagerness to fix his guest lunch. Yunho’s not sure if it’s just because Yunho’s the only visitor Changmin’s had outside of doctors and shrinks monitoring his existence through the safety of their bio suits and gun belts, or because as Yoochun said, Changmin likes him. He decides not to let it bother him and simply try to find reprieve in an environment where he’s not stared at judgementally or studiously ignored.

He thanks Changmin as he’s handed a plate and listens as the scientist chatters enthusiastically about the plant life they’ve found on their expeditions and the expansion plans for the oxygen forest. Yunho’s pleased to discover Changmin’s witty, observant and thoughtful in his speech and he begins to feel at ease with the scientist, no longer terrified with thoughts of the parasite. They watch movies well into the shift cycle and Yunho falls asleep on the couch, cheek pressed to Changmin’s shoulder.

Changmin tries to disguise his excitement every time Yunho visits him on his shifts off, tentacles twitching with desire but he doesn’t want to send Yunho spiralling into a panic attack and does his best to control his urges to touch the man. Yunho’s a little bit broken but entirely beautiful with a full, soft heart that’s a sucker for classic love songs and humanity’s greatest attempts to survive in the newest of star belts. Changmin smiles watching Yunho talk, half shy but hands fluttering everywhere to express himself and he likes to think Yunho’s beginning to let his guard down. The loneliness is worse when Yunho leaves; watching the streaming footage from the screens isn’t enough to satisfy him anymore when he wants so badly to touch, feel and run.

 

Alarms scream; reverberating through Yunho’s bunk and he wakes with a jolt. He feels a heavy weight on his chest, like sand compressing his heart and almost panics when he discovers he’s unable to move. Red tentacles wrap around his torso, Yunho can see them glistening in the weak light reflected from the illuminated buttons on his comm-board and guesses it’s two at most. He tugs lightly at the lengths to find they give, binding him with a slack grip Yunho belatedly realises is the same as the warm cocoon he used to dream about back in quarantine. Yunho’s skin is clammy and hot, clothes and sheets sticking to his skin and his head spins when he sits up to find himself wheezing.

Yunho feels dizzy and short on air when Jaejoong dashes into his room after forcing the door open the rest of the way. It takes good moment for the image of Jaejoong sliding a knife from his boot to sink in and he stops Jaejoong from connecting the blade with one of Changmin’s tentacles just in time. His arms feel weak and he’s panting heavily from the exertion, but he pleads with the Commander, ‘Please, don’t hurt him.’ Jaejoong wrenches away easily, moving to strike the parasite again when Yoochun grabs his wrist. The two argue for some moments but Yunho’s too dazed to make much sense of it, keeping a watchful eye on any blades or heavy feet too close to the tentacles that trail through the door and wrap around his body.

Yoochun’s hand presses against his damp forehead and suddenly he’s being heaved out of bed, down the corridor to the med bay, Jaejoong yelling at a tech to shut the alarms off and stand clear of the med bay and adjacent bunkers. It’s not far to the quarantine bay but Yunho’s knees collapse twice and he’s panting heavily. The tentacles seem to recoil the closer they get, as though reeling him in. They drop him on the foot of Changmin’s bed, nearly on top of the man’s feet and Changmin rouses quickly from his sleep as the mattress dips.

‘What?’ Changmin blinks, squeezing his eyes shut and rubbing at the lids, ‘What’s going on?’

‘I’ll tell you what’s fucking going on,’ Jaejoong leans in the man’s face, seething, ‘Your parasite breached quarantine, busted several doors and set off the alarms, waking the entire ship just so you could molest Yunho in his sleep! You’re lucky I haven’t fucking killed you but these two wouldn’t let me cut those things off,’ Jaejoong gestures violently at the tentacles still bound around Yunho’s chest.

Changmin swallows guiltily, remembering his dream where Yunho held onto him tightly. His cheeks flush with warmth at the thought of Yunho being protective of him- hoping against all odds that the nurse doesn’t hate his tentacles completely if he’s willing to defend him. Yunho sways a little where he sits, sweating profusely and eventually slumping back against the wall, hand holding onto another tentacle that’s wiggled its way over.

‘What’s wrong with him?’ Changmin shifts to his knees, crawling towards Yunho’s collapsed form.

Jaejoong pushes him roughly away and the parasite longs to knock the man against the far wall with a swift flick of its biggest appendage. Yoochun takes his place beside Yunho instead, pulling the nurse to sit upright, ‘He’s got a fever.’

Changmin offers them the bottle of water from his bedside table and Yoochun thanks him, twisting the cap and holding it to Yunho’s lips. Yunho rouses enough to take a few small sips, his body slack in the hold of the long red tendrils.

‘Get those things off of him before I hack them off,’ Jaejoong threatens, ‘I’m this close to tossing you out through the vac shoot and just hoping you don’t latch on for the whole trip back home.’

‘Jaejoong,’ Yoochun says softly, placing a hand on Jaejoong’s arm soothingly, ‘No one got hurt. Changmin can’t control it.’

‘Then he damn well had better learn,’ Jaejoong raises his voice louder, ‘I won’t let anyone endanger the crew and I’ve had enough of this bastard picking on Yunho.’ He jabs at Changmin’s chest.

‘I didn’t mean to,’ Changmin glares, ‘I was asleep, and who the fuck do you think is liable for not providing flight suits up to correct safety standards and getting me into this situation in the first place?’

Jaejoong’s jaw clenches and his fists twitch when Yunho suddenly speaks, ‘I’ll stay here at night,’ he pants, out of breath, ‘They won’t breach the rest of the ship if they have me within reach.’

‘Yunho, I don’t think-‘ Yoochun begins.

‘Right, Changmin? The parasite was only after me?’ Yunho’s eyelids flutter as he tries to stay conscious.

Changmin blushes, ears turning red but he nods, ‘Yes.’

Yunho coughs, his whole body wracked with the motion and Changmin finds the tentacles rubbing soothing patterns up the nurse’s back, just like his palms are itching to do. His eyes widen as they lift Yunho into the air, pulling him closer before laying him down beside Changmin in the bed, rearranging his limbs neatly. Yunho closes his eyes, drifting off and Changmin pulls the blankets up over him, his own legs still tangled between the sheets. He presses a hand to Yunho’s forehead, surprised at the sheer heat contained within the man’s skin.

‘This is disgusting,’ Jaejoong mutters and Changmin clenches his jaw but continues caressing Yunho’s face, wiping away sweat with a cloth. ‘He needs medical treatment, I’ll call for a nurse.’ Jaejoong says, picking his way through the lengths on the floor to the comm-board. 

The tentacles seem to wave and rise in the air and Changmin barely restrains a hiss of his own at the thought of anyone else touching Yunho, ‘It’s just a fever right? I had siblings once, I’ll take care of him- I remember what to do.’ As he speaks a barrier of tentacles prevent Yoochun and Jaejoong from coming any closer, the lengths seem to extend themselves to no limit and build them a safe shield from the rest of the ship. He hears Jaejoong’s noise of frustration as the Commander storms out of the bunk.

Yoochun shuffles, hesitant to leave Yunho alone with whatever Changmin’s becoming, ‘Changmin?’ he asks softly, unable to see through the mass of shifting red tendrils. ‘I hope you understand what Yunho’s doing is a sacrifice, not acquiescence- there is a difference,’ Yoochun says firmly and Changmin hears the hiss of the door close behind him.

Changmin shifts until Yunho’s head rests in his lap, tilted just enough for the nurse to swallow some water and the painkillers he keeps in his bedside draw for his backaches. He’s well aware that Yunho doesn’t want him and it stings like a pinch in his chest, but it doesn’t seem to bother the tentacles which buzz with excitement and pleasure, fluttering over and beneath the covers, needing to touch. The proximity soothes his heart a little but he’s tinged with a little disappointment and he steals a kiss from Yunho’s dry, chapped lips- Changmin assumes the first and last of its kind. He sighs, and somehow jealous of his own parasite, covers Yunho’s body with his own, wanting his arms to be the ones holding Yunho.

 

Yunho wakes the next day no more lucid than his previous sleepy utterances, though his temperature has lowered. Changmin feeds him soup and water, letting him sleep for a large part of the day under a nest of thick blankets. Whenever Yunho wakes he appears to be in pain, his throat dry, skin sunken and pale, and Changmin tries to soothe what he can with sweetened tea laced with painkillers and injecting the occasional booster shot. Changmin hates the sick pleasure he gets from taking care of Yunho, the nurse’s body so malleable and defenceless and Changmin burns with the desire to touch and claim. 

Changmin knows he’s making it worse for himself whenever he slides in beside Yunho, watching the man sleep. Yunho’s mouth is open, pulling in raspy little breaths and drooling onto the pillow- a tentacle edging closer by the minute to fill the warm mouth, persuading Changmin that Yunho might feel better with a load of thick, white fluid coating his throat. It prods at Yunho’s chapped lower lip before Changmin pulls it away with his hand. No matter how much he wants Yunho, he still has strong morals to guide his decisions.

Changmin turns his back to Yunho, willing the tentacles to return into his body. It’s gotten easier to host the parasite without pain and to calm it but Yunho always stretches his last nerve. He feels a majority coil back in and contents himself that the few that remain are innocent enough- wrapped around Yunho’s waist, tracing patterns on his back. He has less luck willing his erection down and slips his hand inside his pants, long fingers curling loosely around the middle. Changmin strokes gently, closing his eyes and trying not to imagine Yunho in any of his fantasies lest the tentacles try to attack the nurse. It feels good, pressing his fingers into all the right dips but he’s ashamed at his lack of control. Changmin keeps his strokes light, all in the fingers and never rewarding himself with the friction he desires. He can’t help but wonder if Yunho would touch him like this, hesitant and unsure or what the man’s lips would look like wrapped around his cock.

Changmin groans at the thought of losing it all over Yunho’s face, the nurse licking his lips and he strokes faster. He checks that Yunho’s still fast asleep, a part of him wanting to get caught, imagining Yunho eager to help him with his release. The man is still sleeping soundly, red lengths trapping his body securely and Changmin turns, pressing his body against Yunho’s and ensuring that none have wandered into the nurse’s clothes though a part of him is certain he’d already have come if they had. He curls forward, onto his knees as he tugs hard on his erection, twisting beneath the crown and muffling his cry into the pillow when then tip brushes against the sheets. He spills imagining Yunho writhing beneath him, begging for more as he’s fucked into the mattress, Changmin’s hands entangled with his own and pinning him down. It’s one of Changmin’s favourite fantasies from before he was infected and he’s pleased to know that the tentacles have yet to invade that scenario yet. Changmin cleans himself and the sheets up before slumping forward against Yunho and easing into sleep.

 

Yunho regains his health after a couple of days, waking to find the haze and pain gone even though it feels as if his mouth has filled with sand. He still feels stiff, sore and a little weak though he doesn’t know how to tell Changmin to stop doting on him when he’s afraid of the tentacles that weave throughout the room and around his body. He feels trapped in a bed with Changmin and the parasite, too frightened to object in case he upsets or angers them and provokes an attack. At the same time, Yunho feels incredibly guilty because Changmin has been nothing but kind to him, nervous and spontaneously affectionate, sleeping protectively over his body and it does make Yunho feel safe but simultaneously kept. 

When he feels completely rejuvenated, Yunho wanders through the quarantine bay whilst Changmin cooks them lunch. Tendrils surround his waist as though anchoring him back to Changmin and it irritates Yunho as he compares himself to a dog on a leash. He slips free of them easily enough, their grip gentle and continues to curve around the path. It’s not a big space, with only a dozen cells and the main recreation space and kitchen but it’s large enough for the tentacles to have difficulty keeping up as he fastens his pace. Yunho waves as he walks past the glass Yoochun normally monitors and locates the cupboard he was looking for, pulling out sheets and thermo quilts. He sets off again, taking an odd sort of glee in watching the tendrils trail behind him, stretching to their utmost limits and tangling back on themselves as he follows the circular path all the way back to Changmin’s room.

Yunho steps over the tentacles carefully, heading into the neighbouring cell. He’s almost done making the bed when Changmin wanders into the room.

‘What are you doing?’ Changmin asks, pouting slightly, ‘I couldn’t feel you anymore and got worried.’

‘I’m fine, Changmin,’ Yunho smiles gently, smoothing the sheets and turning the corners, ‘As you can see, nothing terrible has happened. Is lunch ready?’

‘Y-Yes,’ Changmin looks ruffled and Yunho thinks it’s cute when Changmin shows his age, ‘What are you doing in here?’

‘I’m making a bed,’ Yunho says bluntly, masking his anxiety, ‘It’s right next door and I can leave the door open at night just in case you start dreaming again.’

Changmin’s eyes flash with hurt, ‘You could have just moved this bed into my room.’

‘I want some privacy, Changmin,’ Yunho sits on the bed and shifts his leg out of reach of a wandering tentacle, ‘We’re not lovers.’

‘I- I know that,’ Changmin sounds indignant and upset- Yunho tries not to flinch, ‘I thought we were friends at least.’

Yunho winces under Changmin’s gaze, laden with heavy emotions and tumultuous like a meteor storm, ‘Sure we’re friends, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to get too involved.’

Yunho stands, hedging his way to the door and when a tentacle brushes against his arm he can’t help but jump, hands shaking.

‘You’re afraid of me,’ Changmin sounds so disappointed in Yunho and it squeezes his chest filled with guilt.

‘To be fair, Changmin, I’m not sure there’s anyone who wouldn’t be,’ Yunho slips out the door easily and to his surprise, the tentacles trailing the floor seem to recoil.

Changmin doesn’t join him in the kitchen for lunch, and at night Yunho isn’t bothered by the parasite at all.

 

Changmin finds his face flooded by hot tears far too often for his liking. He keeps the tentacles in as best he can, staying up at night just to make sure none slip out to find Yunho. Changmin’s not sure he ever wants to touch Yunho again anyway; it just seems to take time for the parasite to acknowledge this too. A fragment of what remains of his heart admits that Yunho’s not the first to reject him, particularly in this form- he’s heard half the ship gossiping about him- but it hurts the most. He’s loved Yunho since he was just a cocky kid who aced flight school with minimal effort and was on a mission to run himself into the ground. Yunho epitomized love, care and whatever shred remained of humanity in a sky clouded with battle craft and Changmin feels bitter the same compassion doesn’t extend to him when he’s seen Yunho tend to the enemy’s wounded with the greatest of care. His anger curls inside him and Changmin tries not to dwell on it, feeling the twitch at his lower back as a sign of warning.

Yunho leaves him a note with his schedule and days later he grits his teeth when he realises the nurse is an hour late. He slumps in a chair, quickly configuring the ship’s cameras and flicking through them, searching for Yunho. Changmin misses him the first time; darting back to the camera he watches the least often. Yunho is in the Commander’s office, on his knees with Jaejoong’s cock in his mouth. Changmin watches in sick fascination, anger flooding his veins as Yunho’s mouth works over the Commander’s length, cheeks hollowed and eyes tightly closed. Jaejoong’s fingers twist in his hair, pulling him lower and whilst it’s obvious Yunho’s gagging, he does nothing to fight the man. Yunho keeps his hands on his thighs as Jaejoong fucks his mouth, twitching forward violently as he comes. The Commander gives Yunho a stern look, holding the nurse firmly on his cock until Yunho swallows, finally pulling out.

Changmin disconnects, thoroughly disgusted and barricades himself in his room, ignoring Yunho’s knocks on his door. Later, if he feels his tentacles unfurl and bind themselves a little too tightly around Yunho’s body, he ignores it. When he hears Yunho’s loud cries to wake him, he merely burrows his head further beneath the covers and pretends not to hear.

 

On his shifts off, Yunho feels weird moving around the quarantine bay. Changmin refuses to come out of his room when he’s present and he feels both guilty and irritated by Changmin’s childish behaviour. It’s strangely lonely without the man or at least a tentacle curling around his body. Yunho’s at war with himself, trying to reach conclusions with his underdeveloped feelings. He misses Changmin’s presence, the happy, witty and eager to please boy who for all Yunho’s protests of being too attached, had been nothing but polite and considerate. Yunho reminds himself that Changmin’s still young, it’s a schoolboy crush and those always burn too brightly and burn out too fast. Changmin’s in love with the idea of him, not who Yunho really is: weak, damaged and selfish. Yunho isn’t sure yet how he feels towards the scientist but he’s alarmed at how concerned he finds himself over the man’s well being. 

Yunho knocks on Changmin’s door. He waits a few long minutes for a reply before entering the code, hoping Changmin hasn’t changed it since they shared a room. It hasn’t and he quickly jams the lock before Changmin can dart off the bed and close it.

‘You’re being childish,’ Yunho scolds as he pulls Changmin away from the door lock by the wrist. He doesn’t let go, scared that Changmin will simply run from him and acknowledges the irony in their reversal of roles.

‘Well I’m a kid to you anyway,’ Changmin mutters under his breath, yanking free but sitting on the bed, ‘Why should I give a shit what you think?’

‘It should matter if you really like me- even just as a friend,’ Yunho crosses his arms in front of his chest, ‘And I don’t think you’re just a kid- you’re not as mature as you think you are, but you’re still a man.’ Yunho pokes Changmin playfully on the forehead and jumps in shock when Changmin snarls.

‘I did like you,’ Changmin’s expression is dark and twisted, tone bitter, and Yunho backs against the wall frightened, ‘Before I realised you’re a little whore.’

Yunho winces, looking confused, ‘What?’

‘It’s weird- Yoochun told me how you had all this integrity and chose your partners with care- I thought that was admirable,’ Changmin smirks, ‘Now I know it was just because he was fucking you too.’

‘Changmin-‘ Yunho says nervously as thick, red tentacles uncoil, inching towards him. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘Anyone will do but me right? I saw you and Jaejoong together and then less than a week later, Yoochun fucked you in the flight room,’ Changmin stands, boxing Yunho against the wall, ‘I’m not an idiot, I know you don’t like my tentacles.’

‘Your tentacles?’ Yunho does his best not to stutter, eyes locked with Changmin’s intense gaze.

‘Yes, mine,’ Changmin says forcefully through a flash of teeth as he presses Yunho into the wall with his body, ‘What’s the matter, Yunho? Too much for you? With the way you seem to love taking cock I wouldn’t have thought it’d be a problem.’

Yunho whimpers as tentacles rip through his shirt. He presses against Changmin’s chest with the palms of his hands just before his wrists are surrounded by tentacles and pulled flat against the wall. ‘Changmin, it’s not like that,’ Tears roll down his cheeks as they begin to tug at his pants.

‘Tell me, then- what is it like?’ Changmin’s fingers dig into Yunho’s hips, bruising the skin as he hisses in Yunho’s ear.

‘J-Jaejoong and I made a deal- if I…he promised…ah,’ Yunho makes an expression of pain as the parasite squeezes tightly around his chest, picking him off the floor.

‘And what- you just needed some more stationary supplies from Yoochun?’ Changmin’s voice is scathing.

The tentacles twist around Yunho’s thighs, pulling them open so that Changmin can rest between them. 

‘No! Yoochun is different,’ Yunho pleads, wriggling in his binds, ‘Jaejoong wanted to put you in stasis again, I begged him not to and we made a bargain for your freedom.’

Changmin freezes and the compression on Yunho’s chest eases. He blinks, ‘For me?’

‘You told me you were scared to go into stasis the first time,’ Yunho stares at him so open and honestly that the rage quells inside him, ‘It didn’t seem fair or necessary to go through it again.’

Changmin blinks and steps back from Yunho, his tentacles lowering the man gently to his feet, ‘And Yoochun?’

‘That’s different- Yoochun and I used to date and I was upset- I…’ Yunho looks down, hand coming to rest on the length around his stomach that Changmin’s mildly aware is sucking gently on Yunho’s exposed skin.

‘Tell me,’ Changmin orders.

‘I-I could still feel them,’ Yunho says quietly, ‘I can’t forget what they felt like, all over me…I needed to know what it felt like with hands and human appendages again so that-‘

‘That’s enough,’ Changmin moves abruptly, tentacles withdrawing and Yunho’s knees buckle without their support.

Yunho tumbles to the floor as Changmin storms out of the room, a tentacle bursting through the wall a moment later to tear out the circuitry and the door thuds shut leaving Yunho trapped. Yunho cries into his hands as the alarms blare through the infrastructure of the ship, he’s cold as he crawls over to the door, hammering on the metal hatch. 

‘I needed to know if it would still be enough!’ Yunho shouts, pounding on the door.


	4. Love And War

It takes them over an hour to find Yunho and longer still to force the door with the circuitry blown. He’s a mess of tears and his fists are bleeding when they finally break through, Junsu pulling him up off the floor and tossing a blanket over his bare shoulders. Seunghyun looks infuriated but is relatively patient interviewing Yunho in Jaejoong’s stead. Yunho learns that the Commander had been swung brutally into a wall upon an attempt to fire at Changmin. He’s also told that Changmin in full form had over two-dozen tentacles completely extended and swirling throughout the ship, locking doors and yanking weapons from staff like they were all mere toys before strolling into the hull and stealing a shuttle. 

Junsu dresses the wounds on his hands as Yunho tries to put into words the preceding events. At some point Yoochun joins them- he’s got a bleeding lip and bruised ribs and Yunho wonders if it’s all his fault- if he was too callous with Changmin’s feelings. Seunghyun tells him to rest, informing him that it’s in the hands of the governing patrol to pursue Changmin now and that if he has any idea where the scientist might go, Yunho should let him know. Yunho just nods numbly.

He sleeps in Yoochun’s bunk, quiet and still as Yoochun snores. They’re given three weeks leave but there’s nothing to do on board unless you’re permanently in the simulation room and Yunho’s scared what it might show him if he doesn’t program it properly. He feels bereft without the weight of a tentacle pulling at his waist, expecting to find them trailing after him around every corner and somehow disappointed by the loss of attention and affection. Yoochun is gentle and considerate towards him as always, but they both know there’s no love between them to pursue anymore and Yunho doesn’t like sex without love. 

Changmin haunts his sleep and Yunho frequently wakes with a cold sweat and panting for air. He’s surprised his nightmares never focus on his fear of the parasite but always Changmin in pain. He frets constantly, sick with thoughts of Changmin being caught and sliced open or honed into some kind of weapon for the government. The dreams where Yunho watches helplessly as Changmin’s shuttle crashes, burning up on impact, he swears he can feel the heat singe his skin and it frightens him more than anything else not knowing where Changmin is or preventing him from leaving. The only relief from the horrific nightmares are the dreams he has about sex, bound and filled in an ocean of red tentacles and Changmin’s dark, round eyes imploring, piercing through the haze of pleasure until he wakes in a sticky mess.

 

Jaejoong pushes him hard the first week back, unsubtle revenge for his broken leg and the financial loss of the shuttle and supplies. Seunghyun, as second in command, Jaejoong’s best friend and sporting a soft spot for Yunho, always elbows the Commander in the stomach when he’s being particularly bratty. Jaejoong’s dislike only lasts for another few weeks before they’re told the ship has to come to ground and all med staff are to report for duty- the government has declared war and Yunho’s not even sure why this time.

They land and Yunho’s shipped out to another station whilst Yoochun stays at the base and Junsu is assigned a group of trainees. It’s colder than Yunho would like at the new station and limited funds means hedging the line on sanitary conditions and no heating. It doesn’t take long for them to fall and Yunho’s glad to be working the neutral zone- he knows there’s not another stable rock in the belt for craft to land on until the next planet and it’s too far to travel in scrap metal ships barely holding together for take off. 

There’s so many losses, so many just children on both sides and Yunho feels sick when a boy of around ten is tossed into the corpse hold and his tags given to Yunho to catalogue. Outside the regulated star belts there’s a lot of variance in the people and Yunho discovers mutations are not unusual. At times he’s shocked to find that not dissimilar to Changmin, parasites have infected human bodies and to save the human he must also find a way to treat the alien life form. None of them have tentacles though and for that Yunho is relieved, constantly worried about Changmin. 

He sleeps when he can, often covered in blood, soot and excrement. He’s so exhausted it’s easy to ignore the deafening scrape of crashed ships being compacted and fired off into the battle to cause further casualties of war. Occasionally the wreckage falls, screaming through the sky and they lose an entire tent of patients. The government officials who monitor the station don’t care as long as the deaths are recorded- it’s the final tally that counts.

 

Yunho is sleeping in one of the tents where he’s supposed to be monitoring a patient, sitting by their bedside when a knife is pressed to his throat. Yunho doesn’t fight them, he’s always been a pacifist, and follows them onto a large ship after being marched half way across the rock with his hands up and a dagger pressed to his spine. He understands what they want him to do when he’s lead to a room that’s so dusty and sparse it could barely be considered a med bay. There’s a boy on the table, badly burnt up one arm and barely seventeen, gritting his teeth against the pain and trying not to cry. Yunho eyes the tools wearily, the blades dull and blunt but the bandages are clean, as are the cold compresses on the boy’s skin.

Yunho makes a few requests, pulling his own kit from his belt and making a quick tourniquet around the boy’s thigh where he finds a piece of shrapnel lodged. Not all of them speak the same language but they manage to piece together the things Yunho needs and he makes the necessary sutures and cauterizes the wound. He’s thankful they have the fluids he needs and hooks up and IV with a clean needle from his kit. Yunho removes the cold compress and the boy hisses in pain and his reaction reassures Yunho that there’s no nerve damage- he won’t have to amputate. He gives the boy something to bite down on, administering a heavy painkiller as he sets to work removing dead skin, cleaning the wound. He takes a cell sample from a clean area and uses it to culture new cells, spraying on a fresh epidermal layer evenly and praying to the gods there’s no infection.

They usher him into a room nearby when he’s done and he lies down on the bed to rest. It’s not until he wakes up hours later that he realises they’re in flight. Somehow it doesn’t bother him.

 

It’s obvious after a few days that the crew were operating with threadbare staff on an outdated ship and that their appointed doctor had been stripped from them to serve in the war. There are three others with chronic illnesses requiring treatment and Yunho’s not sure how they’ve survived the first months of war without a medic on board - especially when he’s seen the tiny store of rations. He does all he can for the crew and they treat him with great respect, even when he tells them he’s a nurse, not a doctor.

The boy he treated on his first day recovers quickly and shares a bunk with Yunho and sometimes a bed on the coldest nights when they burn minimal fuel. Minho follows him everywhere and Yunho teaches him what he knows but there’s a look in his eyes too close to admiration for Yunho to feel comfortable with. Minho’s the youngest on board and seemingly the only one trained for combat but when they drift through the sky with the thrusters on low to avoid battle, there’s a limited amount of things to do. It leaves Yunho as closest in age, the rest of the crew considerably older and Minho’s fascination with Yunho’s every word is reminiscent of Changmin. Yunho does his best to keep things polite but at a distance, distraught when Minho tries to kiss him in bed one night.

His hands are shaking with cold, nails blue but he manages to push the boy away, ‘Minho, don’t.’

‘Why not?’ Minho adjusts so that his lanky frame covers Yunho’s body and whilst the warmth sorely tempts Yunho, he pushes again at the teenager’s shoulders.

Yunho wants to say he’s too young, or that it couldn’t possibly mean anything- all the things he tried to tell Changmin and settles on something that makes him sound more prudish than the chaplain on board, ‘Sex should be something special.’

Minho snorts, but Yunho continues, ‘It should be with someone you like, not just convenient.’ 

‘I like you,’ Minho smiles, youthful and boyish before he tries to kiss Yunho again.

Yunho dodges him with a cold hand to his face and Minho recoils in discomfort. He wants to tell Minho he’s misguided with his affections but remembers how badly that turned out before. ‘I’m flattered,’ Yunho says, ‘But…’

‘You like someone else?’ Minho asks, easing off of Yunho’s body.

Yunho pauses for a moment, lost in the memory of a dazzling smile, mismatched eyes and mussed short hair. Yunho remembers the gentleness in Changmin’s voice, his passion when talking about science and large, slender hands that touched his shoulder or fixed his hair whilst Changmin stared at him like he was something precious. ‘Yes,’ Yunho smiles softly, ‘Very much.’

Minho rolls off him, onto his side and lets out a sigh, ‘Pity, it would have kept us warm for an hour or so.’

Yunho hums in agreement.

‘Are you sure? I don’t mind if you want to top.’

Yunho chuckles, ‘Go to sleep, Minho.’

 

The war is declared over and they almost miss the transmission when they’re powering low for a week. Yunho’s not sure who won, but he’s not sure he cares anymore. The crew eat their rations a little more leniently as they prepare to land on safe ground, no longer concerned about allying themselves by merely passing through the wrong airspace. Yunho gets his hair cut by one of the women on board, losing a good deal of length from his locks and suffering greatly for it with the cool, stagnant air on his neck. 

They call for safe passage to Seraphim and are granted a space to land. Yunho’s never been to the outer planets and he’s heard stories about shady deals and the markets that take place there but it’s neutral ground and judging by the amount of craft in the sky, it’s the first destination for many caught in limbo during the war. He can barely hide his excitement for fresh air- dry and warm with that burning damp smell left over from the terraforming process. Where there’s civilisation, there are often cattle and Yunho salivates thinking of tender, spiced meat. The crew give him a small wage to his surprise, the captain thumping him on the back affectionately and he already knows how he wants to spend it. The government sends correspondence assuring the ship they can pick up their new registered doctor on Seraphim but they offer Yunho the choice to stay. Yunho’s been on more comfortable craft and he’s not sure, promising the captain his decision within three days of landing.

 

It’s dustier than expected and a cacophony of noise assaults Yunho’s ears as ships land barely metres from their craft. It’s warm though and Yunho can’t help but smile with joy as he feels his toes defrost for the first time in months. In places it looks more like a junkyard than a landing space, but there are patrol shuttles littered amongst them and Yunho can pick the uniforms monitoring the crowds. There’s so much food and the scent of it has Yunho wandering through aisle after aisle. People unpack their goods for sale or trade whilst others reload their cargo and take passengers. Yunho pauses to allow a man to shepherd goat hybrids up an open deck when his heart seems to seize in his chest.

Across the yard, mere metres away is Changmin, carrying a crate towards the deck of a ship. His chest and shoulders appear broadened, biceps pronounced by the heavy load in his arms and his skin dusted with a bronze tan. Changmin’s hair is still short and messy but it looks more refined and distinguished now that he’s aged slightly. Yunho’s breath catches as he turns, wide mouth setting into a hard line as he spots Yunho, passing his crate to an older gentleman and storming towards him. Yunho’s frozen to the spot as Changmin bears down on him and suddenly the man is there, close enough for Yunho to smell the hint of sweat and the scent he knows to be Changmin’s.

‘If you’re here to report me, you should just fly home, Jung,’ Changmin’s furious gaze burns Yunho’s skin and he flushes.

‘Changmin,’ Is all he can say, staring dumbfounded as he takes in the sight of the man’s healthy, muscular body encased in a flight suit pulled down to the waist and a tight, white t-shirt damp with sweat. He’s dreamt of Changmin’s bloodied body nearly every night since he left and Yunho wants so badly to touch, to hold the fabric of the man’s clothes in his fingertips, terrified the image will dissolve right in front of him after almost a year. ‘You’re alive.’

Changmin snorts derisively, ‘Sorry to disappoint you but you’d better keep your mouth shut or I’ll tear Jaejoong’s crew into so many pieces you won’t be able to stitch them back together.’

Yunho flinches and Changmin sneers, storming back towards the deck. Yunho follows him up the ramp as Changmin hauls a heavy wooden crate inside, hovering at the entrance.

‘I’m not with the company anymore,’ Yunho calls into the dark, ‘I was conscripted to the army base near Cherubim and then I was kind of kidnapped anyway and ended up here.’

Yunho baulks as Changmin suddenly appears back out of the ship, brushing past Yunho to stomp back down the ramp and pick up another crate. Yunho slips down after him, his boots not made for much more than flat ground in an indoor setting. Changmin barely glances his way when he falls to the ground roughly.

Yunho quickly jumps to his feet, darting back up the deck after Changmin, ‘And I’m not disappointed.’

Changmin pushes past him, knocking him off balance and Yunho loses the last of his patience as he dusts himself off again. By the time he’s up, Changmin’s disappearing on board with another crate and out again, Yunho trailing after him, sliding half the way as he tries to keep up with Changmin’s fast pace.

At the bottom of the ramp, in the dirt Changmin turns to head up again when Yunho grits out angrily, ‘Will you just stop for a minute? It’s been nearly a year since I last saw you. I was so sick with fear-‘

‘If you’re so terrified of me, I suggest you get off my deck before I give you good reason to be,’ Changmin’s glare is dark and something in his aura sends a jolt of fear down Yunho’s spine.

‘Changmin,’ Yunho says softly, instinctively taking a step back when Changmin moves towards him.

Changmin sneers menacingly when they both hear a scuffle, turning to see a young boy almost topple backwards carrying a box up the ramp. Quick as lightning, Yunho glimpses a flash of red righting the boy, swiping the load and dropping it inside. Yunho’s eyes widen in terror as he thinks of the patrolmen he’d seen in the area moments ago, eyes on the lookout for uniforms as he searches the surrounding crowd. 

‘You shouldn’t do that in public- people might-‘

‘What? See me as the freak I am?’ Changmin raises his arms angrily, eyes flashing with rage and for the first time Yunho’s truly terrified of Changmin as a human and not the parasite.

Changmin crowds in on Yunho until he’s backed up the ramp and when he reaches for Yunho, he jolts back on deck, ‘You’re pushing my last nerve, Yunho- you always have. Now get the hell out of here before I prove that I’m the monster you think I am.’

Changmin storms off further into the ship and it takes Yunho a couple of seconds to adjust to the darker lighting but he stumbles after Changmin, down a corridor, following the clank of Changmin’s boots on the metal flooring.

‘Changmin, wait!’ Yunho trips on a stair and before he can fall a dozen tentacles wrap around his limbs and lift him off the floor.

Yunho’s more shocked than scared but that’s not how Changmin sees it as he stares up at Yunho as he writhes in his binds. They squeeze tighter around his limbs in response but Changmin makes sure they don’t crack bone, as much as he wants to hurt Yunho back.

‘Chang-‘ Yunho’s mouth fills with a tentacle as Changmin decides he doesn’t want to hear it anymore, making his way through the ship with Yunho ensnared and dragged along behind him.

Changmin opens the door to his room, kicking off his boots as the tentacles dump Yunho on the bed and roughly tear the clothing from his body. Changmin yanks his own t-shirt up over his head and smirks as thick tendrils bind Yunho’s arms and legs, stretched over the bed. He crawls up the mattress until he’s eye to eye with Yunho, staring into the panicked brown eyes and pushing the tentacle in the nurse’s mouth deeper. He runs a hand up Yunho’s thigh and feels the shudder that runs through the man’s body, prompting him to send a tentacle to curl around Yunho’s cock, stroking him firmly. He loses control for the shortest of seconds and a particularly thick tentacle almost shoves home but Changmin catches it just in time, letting it prod at the twitching entrance instead.

Yunho is screaming around the length in his mouth and Changmin licks over his lips where they stretch around the tentacle, ‘You always thought I was capable of this,’ He hisses, ‘But I can do so much more now that I control it. I can take your body however I want, tear you open from the inside- I can destroy you.’

Yunho’s eyes widen and fill with tears but no teeth bite down and if anything Yunho’s body goes slack in his hold. Changmin withdraws the tentacle from Yunho’s mouth and the nurse gasps in air, body wracked with sobs. Changmin’s unsure for a moment and it’s enough to dampen his rage a little, tentacles relinquishing their tight grip until it’s only Changmin’s body pinning Yunho down. It doesn’t seem to matter to Yunho, who just grabs at the lengths, pulling them close as he cries.

‘I’m so angry with you and I still can’t do it,’ Changmin hangs his head, hair brushing against Yunho’s chest before he rolls off.

Changmin can feel Yunho, still frozen on his back, hands tangled in the tentacles, ‘Why are you just lying there? You can go,’ Changmin growls, leaning over Yunho and trying to intimidate him into action. Yunho just lies there, naked and it’s tempting Changmin every second, pushing the limits on the control he’s so carefully honed over time. ‘Go!’ He raises his voice, shaking Yunho’s shoulder.

‘Y-You can- I want you to,’ Yunho says quietly, ‘Please.’ Yunho’s hand squeezes Changmin’s bicep, ‘Please, you can… I know you’re angry, just- I don’t want it to hurt.’

‘I don’t get you,’ Changmin snarls, ‘Are you offering me some kind of pity fuck? Is this just another deal to you like the one you made with Jaejoong?’

Yunho’s eyes widen and Changmin thinks he sees hurt there, ‘No! I want to,’ Yunho rests his other hand on a tentacle that’s curled by his hip, almost touching. ‘I was trying to tell you- before you left- that I couldn’t stop thinking about what it felt like with your tentacles all over me… and when I slept with Yoochun I knew for certain that it wasn’t enough anymore. I want you. I-I like you,’ Yunho says so softly Changmin almost misses it.

A part of Changmin feels like he’s entitled to a piece of Yunho. He can rationalise all he wants but it’s there- the instinctual desire to take, hurt and claim- to finally earn the crimes laid against him when he wasn’t even conscious. His palms itch to run along Yunho’s bare thighs and push the man’s legs open wide to take him. 

‘Is this some kind of joke?’ Changmin’s voice comes out rough and he’s straining in his flight suit. ‘I haven’t forgotten how frightened you were – still are- or how much you hated me for something I didn’t even do intentionally. I know it’s partially my fault for putting you on a pedestal but fuck, did have to be so obviously repulsed by the thought of me liking you?’

‘I’m not disgusted,’ Yunho objects, ‘I don't think you’re being fair, Changmin- even if you don’t know entirely what occurred that night, I’ve never been so humiliated, hurt or terrified.’

Changmin sighs in frustration, ‘I don’t know why you’re still here then if you feel that way,’ he huffs, pushing off Yunho when he’s yanked back down, Yunho’s leg locking around his waist and he can feel the man’s erection hot against his stomach.

‘Would you stop being such an idiot jumping to conclusions?’ Yunho bites at his neck, drawing the skin taut with his teeth, ‘Yes, you frighten me. You move so quickly from one emotion to the next and I’m still trying to make sense of everything. You’re too quick to anger with that huge chip on your shoulder that means you wouldn’t believe anything I have to say anyway. Just shut up and fuck me already,’ Yunho growls, rolling Changmin onto his back and straddling him with one swift motion.

He rocks down against Changmin’s crotch and the man gasps, eyes rolling before six tentacles snap through the air and halt Yunho in his tracks. ‘Don’t you think we should talk about this?’ Changmin asks, so full of doubt that Yunho softens a little in the tentacles’ hold.

Yunho slips his arms free easily enough, placing his hands on Changmin’s chest and leaning forward to brush lips over Changmin’s mouth. He kisses softly, teasingly with eyes closed, waiting for Changmin to respond and take over the kiss. He hears Changmin’s breath hitch when he licks gently at the seam of his lips and Yunho is reminded that Changmin’s feelings for him were always so raw and delicate underneath the persistent, friendly façade. He pulls back, running hands through the tentacles that sway around the two of them. One runs up his back, tip resting on his shoulder and Yunho turns his head to press a kiss to it, Changmin shuddering beneath him. It’s smooth and a little slimy but surprisingly the texture doesn’t bother Yunho at all, the tentacles are warm and smell like Changmin, which arouses him and he rocks his hips again. 

‘I don’t want to talk,’ Yunho says quietly, ‘I want you inside me. I- I need you in me- after that we can talk.’

Changmin reaches out and Yunho leans down into his outstretched arms, moaning when he’s pulled into a kiss, Changmin’s tongue hot and persistent in his mouth. Changmin’s hand curls around his nape, fingers pulling lightly at the short strands there and he rises into a sitting position to put more force into the kiss.

Changmin breaks the kiss, panting hard, ‘I’ve changed, I’m not who I was before,’ his grip tightens over Yunho’s hips, voice rough and low, ‘I won’t be gentle.’

Changmin bites at his collarbones, teeth dragging up Yunho’s neck and he grunts when Yunho’s hand slips into his flight suit and strokes his erection. ‘No one asked you to be,’ Yunho whispers, offering a wry smile before leaning in to nip at Changmin’s ear.

Changmin growls, tentacles whipping through the air to surround Yunho’s frame. They encircle his waist and thighs, lifting Yunho into a better position for a tentacle to curl its way up between his thighs, pushing through the cleft of Yunho’s ass to prod lightly against his entrance. Yunho quickly sucks in air but pushes down on the length, continuing the rhythm of his hand over Changmin’s cock.

‘Are you scared?’ Changmin can’t help but ask, tilting Yunho’s chin up so that their eyes meet.

‘A little,’ Yunho says honestly, ‘But not of you. Just…ah…don’t tease me, Changmin.’ Yunho’s eyes flutter closed as more of the red feelers spread him open, a tentacle still tracing gently over the small hole.

Yunho rocks his hips, jutting so that his bottom pushes back against the tentacles but his arms wrap around Changmin’s shoulders, his breath hot in Changmin’s ear. Changmin’s mouth runs dry and heat flips through his belly, twitching through the muscles of his extra limbs- a part of him thinks it must be a dream but Yunho’s core feels so, so hot when he finally pushes a slim, red tentacle inside the man. He watches Yunho’s eyes roll, his mouth dropping open in a moan as he’s filled and Changmin leans forward to kiss him again. The twist of anxiety in his stomach diminishes as Yunho tries to take the length deeper and his hands delve into the mass of writhing feelers at his lower back, stroking a few of the thicker roots and pressing fingertips along the tiny rows of suckers.

Changmin latches his mouth over Yunho’s Adam’s apple and as much as he enjoys Yunho’s moans, he takes far greater pleasure in allowing a tentacle to fill the man’s throat. He pushes in to a limit before receding only to slide right back in along with another red length, Yunho’s lips stretched wide and to Changmin’s thrill the man sucks lightly when he can. Changmin rewards him by allowing the tentacles to spill burst after burst of fluid into Yunho’s mouth, pushing it further and further in until Yunho has to swallow- Changmin’s mouth working over Yunho’s throat as it convulses with the action. He slides a finger in beside the tentacle that’s stretching Yunho’s ass open, thankful for the natural lubrication of the slimy appendages because Yunho feels amazingly tight.

Yunho’s hands squeeze and yank a little too roughly at the base of his tentacles and for a moment Changmin’s struck by the thought that it’s all a pretence for him to let his guard down and that Yunho plans to destroy him but as soon as the thought appears it’s eased by the revelation he’s merely pushing too far down Yunho’s throat, the outline of the thick length visible from the outside. Changmin concentrates on pulling them out, Yunho sucking in much needed oxygen and Changmin feels guilty for ever suspecting betrayal when Yunho’s placing so much trust in him.

‘Sorry,’ Changmin says softly, a hand running up Yunho’s back soothingly.

Yunho just smiles through watery eyes, coughing a little, ‘It’s okay.’

Changmin sets a tentacle to work stroking Yunho’s cock, tiny suction cups of another length pulling gently at delicate skin of Yunho’s balls and inner thighs but it doesn’t distract either of them from the fact that Changmin is hesitant to fill Yunho’s throat again. Yunho sighs a little, body leaning into the touch and he reaches down to palm Changmin’s erection, ‘Have you done this before?’ He asks, heel of his palm pressing under the crown and fingertips brushing against Changmin’s sac.

‘I’m not a virgin,’ Changmin scoffs, mildly offended.

Yunho laughs, voice a little rough, ‘I meant with the tentacles.’

‘N-not quite,’ Changmin admits, averting his gaze but he feels Yunho gently pick up one of his heavier, thicker appendages.

‘I’ll give you a sign if it’s too much for me,’ Yunho’s eyes flash with lust, ‘But until I do, I want you to give me everything you’ve got.’ 

Yunho gives Changmin a smirk before pulling the tentacle in his hand closer, licking at the tip before sucking it into his mouth. Changmin’s breath hitches at the gesture and he responds by letting more slime spill over Yunho’s tongue, watching as some of it dribbles out the corner of Yunho’s mouth.

Yunho’s eyes roll and he leans back into the tentacles surrounding him, rocking his hips. Changmin thrusts up, using the appendages for support before pulling the tentacle out of Yunho’s ass and manipulating Yunho’s body to sit down on his cock. It’s hot and tight and everything Changmin’s been thinking of for the last six years- Yunho keening and malleable in his arms. The raw emotion tightens in his throat and Changmin has to lean forward and bite into Yunho’s chest to muffle the cry that comes out unbidden. To Changmin it feels like the time the gearshift in his shuttle stuck and he spun, hurtling through the sky, body bending with the compacting frame. The thrill runs through his veins, searing until it feels as though his heart will burn up, singe a hole through his chest and set fire to the sheets.

Changmin feels the desire coil and dissipate only to build again within the tentacles, never satiated to just touch- each wants a chance to touch and fill. Changmin lets them and to his delight Yunho’s back arches, bowed as his muscles strain and shudder as the beginnings of an orgasm take hold of his senses. Yunho groans loudly around the tentacle in his mouth as his insides are flooded with heat, Changmin timing each burst in short successions and riding out the excess lubrication as he thrusts up. 

As much as Changmin enjoys watching Yunho, he feels the need to be closer, pulling the man flush against his chest. Yunho bounces, guided by the dexterous tentacles that wind around his body and help ease the strain. His breathy little moans are hot against Changmin’s ear when he withdraws the tentacles from Yunho’s mouth. Yunho clutches at his shoulders, moving faster and faster, eyes squeezed shut and arching backwards when a slim red tentacle pushes in beside Changmin. Changmin whispers a small apology for the pain, Yunho tight around him and slowing at the stretch. Yunho just nods, head crooked into Changmin’s shoulder, mouthing at the skin there and clinging needily as he lets Changmin take over the pace.

Changmin snaps his hips up, pushing in alongside a slick tentacle. Others slide in when Changmin pulls out, leaving just the tip inside and half a dozen thin, delicate feelers that withdraw just before he thrusts back in. Yunho whines into his neck, one hand digging into Changmin’s back and the other buried in the mass of tentacles, caressing and stroking. Changmin shudders, pulling at Yunho’s hair until their mouths can connect, soft lips parting to allow his tongue to slide in and taste. Yunho kisses back with just as much force, a hand on Changmin’s jaw as they lose themselves in the sensation.

Yunho shakes, delicate suckers pulling at the skin of his chest, over a nipple and another length sprays his back white with a thick load of slime. His body is covered in marks- little red hickeys in symmetrical rows wind their way around his torso, marking the skin of his thighs and neck. Slime covers his lower back and slides down his thighs from between his legs so that when he climaxes with a muffled shout, the cum blends into the mess already decorating his body. 

The moment of Yunho screaming into his mouth in orgasm, sagging trustingly into the hold of his many limbs has Changmin clenching his jaw, hips snapping forward uncontrollably. The tentacles toss Yunho up into the air, flipping him onto his back and pressing him down into the mattress, hands bound above his head by the lengths. Yunho lets out a yelp of surprise but doesn’t resist as they pull his arms tight until his body arches. He spreads his legs easily, even with the help of Changmin’s hands and tentacles and sighs with pleasure as Changmin pushes back in. The smile Yunho gives Changmin is almost disarming and Changmin feels like he’s seventeen again- all awkward limbs and misguided ambitions, standing before the most radiant and righteous beauty he’s ever seen. His heart flutters in his chest because Yunho is his now and Changmin knows he’s not going to give that up again, even if he has to keep Yunho restrained for the entirety of their lives. 

Yunho’s legs wrap around Changmin’s waist and tentacles wind their way beneath Yunho’s body, lifting him up off the bed until he’s tilted at the perfect angle. He looks beautiful, and thoroughly fucked, Changmin moving inside him at a frantic pace, grunting at the exertion. Yunho’s body bends with the impetus of his movements but he can’t bring himself to slow- there’ll be time for gentle later, after Yunho’s so spent he’s coming dry and slipping into unconsciousness. Yunho moans and a thick, red length rubs against his soft, plump mouth, sliding in to run along teeth, touching the tip of Yunho’s tongue before withdrawing and beginning all over again.

Yunho ruts up against him, urging Changmin to come and he spills inside the man, feeling the pull of heat in his abdomen. Changmin rides out the last of his orgasm, groaning as Yunho tightens around him, eager for his cum. He doesn’t pull out when he’s done, merely rolling to his side and pulling Yunho with him, using tentacles to pull one of Yunho’s legs around his waist and binding them together so that he can remain firmly lodged inside Yunho. Yunho just smiles softly, hazy with the need to sleep and thoroughly spent. He jolts a little as a slim tentacle worms its way inside him, filling him up and keeping him stretched as Changmin begins to soften, but doesn’t make any protests, merely snuggling closer and closing his eyes. Changmin lays gentle kisses over Yunho’s eyelids, willing his limbs to stay satiated and unaroused despite their proximity to the object of their desire, before closing his eyes too.


	5. Oxygen

Changmin wakes up alone and it takes every bit of self-control he possesses to stop him from tearing his room apart in anger. The adjoining bathroom is empty too and there’s no trace of Yunho in his room apart from the torn remnants of clothes and the stains on his sheets. He feels hurt like never before and dresses quickly, eager to get off the planet as soon as possible. Changmin knows he’s insecure at heart, in need of constant reassurance since he was a small boy and now that he’s a man it’s no different. Wounds that had begun to heal the night before easily unravel again and Changmin curses himself for letting Yunho have that much power over him again. 

He barks an order for work to be finished in the engine room by the afternoon, despite knowing how unreasonable he’s being in his demands. Changmin tells the mothers on board to gather their children before they take off and then follows them through the ship as they head for the deck. They flutter nervously towards the ramp, used to sudden departures and discussing where their children would be on the plains of Seraphim. Changmin’s boots thud heavily behind them but he pauses when he catches sight of Yunho at the top of the ramp, chatting animatedly to a young teenager whom Changmin doesn’t recognise. Before he can blink, his tentacles are ripping through the back of his shirt, that largest shooting out towards Yunho, wrapping around his waist and pulling him up into the air.

Yunho lets out a shout of surprise as he’s suddenly a foot away from connecting with the ship’s ceiling. The tentacle around his waist is a little too tight for comfort but if the alternative is slipping he’ll gladly take the squeeze. Changmin looks furious, glaring at Minho and Yunho almost laughs at how juvenile Changmin is when jealous- instead he rubs palms over the thick limb suspending him in the air. It does little to calm Changmin, but he does look up in Yunho’s direction for a moment.

‘What the fuck do you think you’re doing?’ Minho yells in horror, pulling the gun from his belt and aiming it at Changmin. ‘Put him down!’

Changmin glares and with a quick flick, has knocked the gun out of Minho’s hands, ‘No one raises a gun on board my ship,’ he growls, closing in on Minho.

‘Changmin!’ Yunho calls, ‘Leave Minho alone, we’re just friends.’

Changmin hesitates for a moment, eyes flicking up to Yunho, searching the man’s face for honesty.

‘And put me down already!’ Yunho scowls, fidgeting in the tentacle’s hold, ‘I’m still sore from yesterday.’

Yunho’s words work because almost immediately he’s reeled in sharply, catching himself on Changmin as he stumbles. Changmin steadies him, drawing him closer with his arm and adding more tentacles to the mix. Changmin ignores the way Minho stares at the slick, red limbs. ‘Is he one of the crew who kidnapped you?’ Changmin glares, fingers digging into Yunho’s hip.

‘Yes, but that was only because they had a medical emergency,’ Yunho scolds Changmin, peeling off some of the more intrusive tentacles that had slid under his clothes. ‘Minho would have died and they were all very nice.’

Changmin’s lip curls into a sneer because Yunho was always too forgiving for his own good- it’s one of the reasons Yunho and Changmin fucked the previous night so he supposes he can’t really complain. He glances over at the tall, lanky boy with too long hair and a quiet air of arrogance- he’s too much like Changmin for comfort but there’s the marred flesh of his arms, peeking out from a threadbare flight suit to confirm their story. Changmin still wants to knock the boy back down the ramp of his ship. ‘Isn’t that just lovely?’ Changmin glares, tentacles doing their best to cover every inch of Yunho’s body in an uncontrollable urge.

‘Who are you?’ Minho squares his shoulders and glares back, ‘And let go of Yunho.’ Minho tugs at Yunho’s arm, trying to pull the nurse free and Changmin growls.

Changmin barely resists using his tentacles to stop Minho, sensing there’s an unspoken line between himself and Yunho that would be crossed if he did. Instead he merely pulls Yunho into the air and out of reach, ‘I’m the captain of this ship and he’s mine- don’t touch him again,’ Changmin threatens darkly, limbs snapping around him. 

Minho looks up to Yunho who nods in confirmation, wriggling a little, ‘I know you said sex should be special, but I didn’t know you meant it like this.’ Minho laughs as a tentacle disappears into the ripped knee of Yunho’s pants.

Changmin’s fury is quelled for a moment by the sound of Minho’s laughter. There’s no jealousy in his voice, just pure amusement over a friend’s predicament and he’s further calmed when Yunho calls out, ‘Shut up, Minho, I’ve seen the kind of porn you watch.’

Yunho kicks his legs in the air, cheeks turning pink and Changmin slowly lowers him to the floor again. He keeps a remaining tentacle twisted around Yunho’s waist and the nurse pats the length absentmindedly, smiling happily in Changmin’s direction. It nearly bowls Changmin over in its open radiance and he feels his tentacles throb and thrum in delight. ‘This is Changmin,’ Yunho introduces, and then gestures at the teenager, ‘And this is Minho.’

Changmin acknowledges the boy with a nod, standing straighter and reeling in a majority of his limbs until only a couple remain outside his body- all of them touching, stroking, holding Yunho in some way. Minho watches in fascination at the gentle actions Changmin makes whilst the rest of him remains cold and impassive. ‘How many do you have?’ He asks curiously, reaching out to poke at the one around Yunho’s waist and to Changmin’s immense satisfaction, Yunho bats his hand away before he has to yank his tentacles along with the nurse out of reach because Changmin’s vowed not to let go ever again.

‘A little more than two dozen,’ Changmin shrugs, more interested in the length he has running up the sensitive skin of Yunho’s inner thigh through his pants.

‘That’s rare,’ Minho nods, impressed, ‘Can I touch one? I’ve always been curious- I mean when you read all the reports from travellers, who wouldn’t be?’ 

Changmin shuffles his feet, looking to Yunho for help when he notices Yunho frowning, ‘They’re mine,’ Yunho says possessively and Minho lowers his extended arm.

Changmin holds back a grin, a tentacle rubbing at the seat of Yunho’s pants, ‘What do you mean all the reports? How many is normal?’ Changmin has always felt like he had rather a large amount of tentacles, he’d never considered other people might have more.

‘Most I’ve heard of was twenty, but I saw the picture from the medical journal and they weren’t this thick or able to extend very far,’ Minho leans in to look at the wide length around Yunho’s abdomen. Changmin puffs his chest a little in pride and Yunho pets the tentacle appreciatively until it squirts down the front of his shirt.

‘Changmin!’ Yunho scolds, wiping at the mess but Changmin merely represses a smile and shrugs. 

‘It was bound to happen,’ He smirks, ‘Maybe you should take off your clothes before it gets messy.’

Changmin pulls Yunho against him by the hips, one hand unbuttoning the damp shirt. He mouths at Yunho’s neck, finding marks there from the night before. Yunho pushes at his chest,’ W-Wait. Minho, I’ve never read any medical journal like that.’ Yunho pushes out of Changmin’s hold, turning to face the teenager.

‘I’ll bring them over- I got them on one of the outer planets,’ Minho offers and Changmin tries not to be jealous when Yunho offers the boy a smile.

‘We’re leaving in twelve hours,’ Changmin warns.

‘Okay,’ Minho nods then grins cheekily and winks, ‘I’ll leave you guys to it for now- see you later,’ The teenager dashes down the ramp and out of sight.

Changmin waves before using arms and tentacles to lift Yunho up, Yunho wrapping his legs around his hips and clinging to his shoulders for balance. He nuzzles against Yunho’s jaw and neck, all his earlier rage diminished as Changmin’s mouth finds Yunho’s, nudging the sweet bow of the man’s lips apart so that he can slide his tongue inside. It’s a slow kiss, but Changmin finds himself getting hard, tentacles setting to work in ripping the shirt from Yunho’s body.

‘Changmin,’ Yunho breaks the kiss, looking up at Changmin with hooded eyes and his erection pressing between them, ‘Can we take this slow?’

Changmin shifts Yunho’s weight into the hold of the tentacles, entering a door code as he walks them through the ship, ‘We are going slow- I’ve been awake for over an hour and I’m not in you yet.’

Yunho pinches his arm lightly, ‘You know that’s not what I meant.’

Yunho moans as Changmin hitches his body up, hands groping Yunho’s ass, ‘I know what you meant, but when I woke up this morning I thought you had left me,’ Changmin says softly, pushing Yunho’s back into a corridor wall and grinding gently. He tilts Yunho’s face up by the chin, eyes boring into his before he lets them flutter shut and kisses Yunho again. It’s sweet, slow and languid- everything Changmin once had to offer to his first love before the infection, ‘Last night you said you needed me- well I need you too. I have to know that you want me, that you’re mine.’ Changmin’s breath is hot against Yunho’s neck where he nips behind an ear and rolls his hips.

Yunho pushes back, tightening his legs and coaxing Changmin’s head out from where it’s hiding in his shoulder. He gives Changmin a look of such pure affection that it sends his stomach jumping, knocking his heart into his throat. ‘Okay,’ Yunho smiles, leaning in to kiss Changmin, tongue teasing as it runs over the seam of Changmin’s mouth, toying with the swell of his upper lip. Changmin kisses back hard, Yunho’s head connecting with the wall as Changmin sets out to bruise and devour. It’s not long before they’re writhing together, Yunho’s hands clawing at Changmin’s shirt until it slips off his shoulders revealing a broad, muscular chest, darker and more defined than Yunho’s own.

They wake from their reverie when they hear a squeak, turning to see the slim teenager Changmin helped the day before frozen in shock. Yunho blushes but Changmin merely chuckles, hitching Yunho firmly around his waist and walking past the young boy. Every step brushes their erections together and soon Yunho can barely remember his embarrassment. He still can’t resist asking, ‘You have kids on board?’

Changmin hums, ‘And sometimes their parents. It’s cheaper to stay in the sky than buy land. They all pull their weight and help run the ship.’ He enters another code, turning down a new hall.

‘It suits you somehow: Captain,’ Yunho chuckles, testing the title, ‘It’s a trading ship?’ He brushes hair out of Changmin’s eyes.

‘Yup, we run deliveries too. It’s a long trip to the outer planets but they pay the best and have more variety in food- no ration packs,’ Changmin eases his fingertips into the pad by the door and to Yunho’s surprise, a tentacle too. ‘I bet it’s been awhile since you had fresh meat,’ He teases and Yunho gets the impression Changmin’s bragging.

‘Do you have chocolate?’ Yunho bounces a little in Changmin’s hold, smiling eagerly.

Changmin frowns, ‘You’re just as bad as the kids,’ he teases when he’s cut off by a gasp. Yunho’s legs drop from around his waist and Changmin lets him stand firmly on the ground, unwinding the red, slippery lengths. Yunho spins on the spot, mouth open as he gapes at their surroundings.

The room is vast, with a light so bright and blinding it could easily be convincing as natural sun glare as it shines through a canopy of trees. From the dirt floor grows a great forest, thick trunks with rough bark and Yunho runs his hand over the nearest flank. Between the thick, bulging roots grass lines the ground and delicate flowers take hold. Pinks and blues line a path that winds through the trees and Yunho wonders exactly how many hours Changmin put into the design to make it look like a naturally propagated forest.

‘You built this?’ Yunho turns, still in wonderment and he can hear the steady trickle of water within the room. ‘I’ve never seen an oxygen forest this big.’

Changmin rubs the back of his neck, taking a few steps towards where Yunho waits on the path, ‘It’s partly an optical illusion,’ He admits. 

‘It’s beautiful,’ Yunho says, breathless and he takes Changmin’s hand, leading him through the forest.

Changmin smiles proudly, ears red, ‘This ship wasn’t in very good condition when I came on board, but it had two rooms for oxygen forests and I practically begged the captain to let me join. I told him what I was but that’s not as unusual as you’d think out here- anyway, they weren’t as much forests as they were suffocating saplings, so he let me build and grow what I wanted with the space. Turns out having this many extra limbs makes for wonderful farming and on an acceleration stimulant both rooms are doing fine. When he died, he left me the ship.’

Yunho stops as they come to a clearing, pure white light shining on a pristine pool. The air is warmer and ferns surround the opening, birds of paradise standing tall amongst the greenery. A small waterfall made of jagged descending rocks trickles water into the pool, its source a winding river that bends down another path for as far as Yunho can see. He breathes in the sweet, exotic scent of hibiscus, feeling the desire to wade into the clear, blue water. ‘It’s amazing, Changmin,’ Yunho smiles, hugging Changmin close.

Changmin blushes at the compliment and looks away, unable to handle the intensity of the admiration in Yunho’s eyes. Instead he thanks Yunho and rests against a rock as Yunho wanders, content to watch as the man traces the leaves on palm fronds and touches petals in wonder. Although Changmin himself grew up on land with private gardens and parklands, it’s not unusual for babies born on board and on stations to have never seen grass and he can understand the appeal when Yunho flops down onto the green, fingers trailing in the blades. To be the one to offer the experience to Yunho makes his chest swell almost uncomfortably in joy. Yunho rolls onto his stomach, fingers brushing through dirt and contemplating something other than dust particles and terraformed sand. 

Changmin laughs lightly as Yunho leans in and breathes in the scent, shucking off his boots before lying down on the grass beside Yunho, ‘What are you doing?’ He asks, plucking a few blades of grass and splitting the soft root with his nail.

‘It smells damp,’ Yunho answers, nose undoubtedly tickled by the blades as he leans in close to the ground.

‘Of course it does,’ Changmin sniggers, sprinkling the remains of the grass and running a hand through Yunho’s hair. ‘It needs a lot of water to grow.’

‘And I don't know,’ Yunho inhales heavily, ‘It smells clean, crisp- green,’ Yunho smiles, rolling onto his back.

Changmin moves to lie between Yunho’s legs, trailing a blade of grass down the contours of Yunho’s face, ‘And how does something smell green exactly?’ He grins.

‘I think it smells kind of like you, actually,’ Yunho pokes his tongue out before he pulls Changmin down for a kiss. 

It’s not long before they’re frotting together on the ground. Changmin pressing his full weight down to rub against Yunho’s crotch. Yunho’s tongue delves into his mouth and Changmin shivers, straining hard in his pants. He sits back, admiring Yunho’s panting form before running a hand down the underside of Yunho’s leg and tugging the man’s boots off, one after the other. ‘Take your clothes off,’ Changmin demands, hands reaching for the buttons of Yunho’s pants. They’re borrowed and a little tight around the ass and thighs, showing a clear outline of Yunho’s heavy erection. Changmin thinks they look better on Yunho than they ever did on him.

Yunho draws up to rest on his elbows, halting Changmin’s hands, ‘Is it a good idea to do it here?’ He looks around the large, open compound.

Changmin nods, fumbling with each button on Yunho’s pants, ‘This is my private garden- the other room is for the rest of the crew. We won’t be interrupted so let’s get these off.’ He yanks at a particularly unyielding clasp.

Yunho grabs Changmin’s fingers, stopping him at the last remaining button, causing Changmin to look up and notice the flush colouring Yunho’s cheeks, ‘You first.’

Changmin smirks, turned on by Yunho’s sudden shyness. He stands and slowly unbuttons his pants, ducking to push them off and straightening, unabashed by his nudity. Yunho stares, sparks in his eyes as he dips over broad shoulders, defined pectorals and the cut lines of a muscular abdomen. He follows the thin trail of hair down from Changmin’s belly button and his mouth salivates as he takes in the proud curve of Changmin’s cock as it juts upward, arching towards his stomach. Long, lean legs and toned biceps complete the package and Yunho mentally makes plans to map the tanned skin with his tongue later- if only to see if Changmin still has that smug look of confidence when Yunho’s swallowing his cock.

Yunho pushes off the grass and gets to his feet, hands reaching out to touch Changmin’s smooth skin. It feels as though they’re frozen for a moment, with only the sound of trickling water and their shallow breaths surrounding them. Changmin’s skin is hot beneath his palm and Yunho runs a hand over his hip, their eyes locked as a plethora of emotions and insecurities flow between them. Changmin’s breath hitches as Yunho’s fingers trace patterns feather light over the small of his back. He closes his eyes and suddenly Yunho’s hand is full of the writhing red mass of feelers and they’re tearing the pants from Yunho’s body until they both stand naked before each other. Yunho blushes and Changmin gently takes his hands before he can cover himself, pulling Yunho towards the pool.

Changmin steps into the water, easily finding his way down the large stairs of stone beneath the pool, ‘Do you know how to swim?’

Yunho nods, pressing in close as Changmin steps backwards again, the water reaching over their waists, ‘It’s been a while though. Won’t we make the water dirty?’

Changmin uses his tentacles to keep him afloat with minimal effort as they rest against the smooth surface of the pool. He pulls Yunho close so they can float, Changmin on his back and Yunho flush against his chest, ‘It’s filtered and not the ship’s water source- this one helps irrigate the room.’ Changmin hums, using his tentacles to propel them slowly across the surface of the water, skimming over the stone floor. He’s hard but in no rush to relieve it, Changmin’s always found the forest and water especially soothing for the parasite. Yunho’s hand finds a tentacle and begins stroking lazily and Changmin has to contemplate that need to come all over again. They sway in the water, tilting up until their feet touch the bottom, erections pressing together and Yunho sighs into Changmin’s chest.

Changmin nuzzles Yunho’s cheek, his wet hair leaving droplets behind and Yunho licks the fresh water drops that pool in his clavicle. Changmin pulls Yunho closer by the ass, fingers squeezing the flesh and enjoying the feel of Yunho twitching against his stomach. A finger slides slowly down the cleft, hesitating before pushing in and Yunho tries to press himself impossibly closer to Changmin, moulding their frames together. Yunho holds himself still and rigid as Changmin pumps his finger in and out. There’s a hesitancy there and Changmin’s not sure if it’s out of pain, fear of the water or because Yunho’s worried they’re rushing things but he pulls Yunho’s legs up around him and walks them through the water until Yunho can sit on the ledge of a step.

Changmin kneels on the step below, leaning forward to run lips over Yunho’s torso, breath hot against the damp skin. Yunho’s hands run through his hair, smoothing it out of his eyes and Changmin can finally see the insecurity in his eyes- too blinded by his own to think that Yunho might be terrified of being emotionally vulnerable and frightened of anything other than just the parasite. He straightens to kiss Yunho straight on the mouth, chaste and firm because Changmin’s never been great with people and he’s not sure how to articulate all the reassuring things he wants to promise Yunho. He rises to stand between Yunho’s legs as the man pulls him in by the hair, needy and hard and when Changmin’s tongue slips inside, Yunho tastes sweet from the fresh water.

Fingers press in again, stretching Yunho lazily as they continue to kiss. Changmin waits until Yunho is panting into his mouth, knuckles white where they grip the edge of the step before he lines up and pushes in. It’s a tight fit and dry, even with the water surrounding around them, building waves as Changmin pushes in to the hilt. Changmin’s eyes close as he tries not to come, organising his limbs to make sure that Yunho’s head will never slip under the water. He moves slowly and Yunho rocks in sync, hitching his legs up and calves tangled amongst the tentacles. Changmin occupies Yunho’s mouth, stealing his oxygen and grazing his tongue over the roof of his mouth. Yunho’s lips are red, glistening with saliva and every time Changmin breaks the kiss he finds himself staring at the plump flesh until he goes back for more.

Changmin runs hands over Yunho’s body, thumb pressing hard against a nipple or dipping into the small belly button before he wraps long fingers around Yunho’s erection. He strokes in time with his thrusts, then teases the tip until he feels it drip, making a tight fist for Yunho to rock into. It doesn’t take long before Yunho is keening, nails digging into Changmin’s shoulders and hot breath at his ear. Changmin presses him back into the step, tentacles softening the stone against Yunho’s skin, holding Yunho steady so that Changmin can thrust in harder, picking up speed. Yunho pushes back whenever he can, taking Changmin deep and moaning, head thrown back and his body arched.

It’s beautiful and Changmin presses lips to any inch of skin he can reach, dragging the sensitive skin of Yunho’s neck taut between his teeth and he suckles on a spot until it blooms deep red and purple. Yunho bursts between them, over Changmin’s hand and then dissipating with the water and Changmin laughs a little in surprise. ‘That was quick,’ Changmin nuzzles Yunho’s jaw, slowing his movements.

Yunho blushes before pulling Changmin closer by the ass, fingers digging in, ‘Shut up, it’s not like you’re not about to come yourself.’

Changmin smirks, pushing in hard and testing the limitations of Yunho’s body, ‘Maybe.’ Changmin heaves them both out of the water, climbing the steps until they can flop onto the grass and Yunho swiftly moves to push Changmin down onto his back. 

He straddles Changmin still feeling the arousal buzzing through his veins but edged with exhaustion, his muscles sore, ‘I’d ride you until you came and then got hard again but I don’t think you can hold out that long against me.’ Yunho smirks, rolling his hips down and a tentacle finds its way inside him.

Changmin raises an eyebrow, pushing in another just to let it burst inside Yunho, coating his tight passage and the man atop him shudders, ‘Is that so?’

‘Yep,’ Yunho grins again, lifting off to shift his way down Changmin’s body and quickly engulfing the length in his hot mouth. 

Changmin watches as Yunho stretches lips around him, the corners twisting in a smile as a tongue pushes firmly up his shaft and down again. He groans, hips snapping upward and another tentacle spills inside Yunho. It’s the first time anyone’s done this for him and both the gesture and the incredible heat of Yunho’s slick tongue overwhelm Changmin. He sits up, leaning on one hand as the other digs into Yunho’s hair, eyes rolling as he groans. Yunho hums around his length, mouthing at the tip and Changmin can feel himself twitch and pulse over Yunho’s tongue. A warm hand strokes firmly and the tension builds, pleasure riding through his veins, curling behind his abdomen until it explodes and Yunho is swallowing quickly around him.

Changmin slurs praise, finding his energy sapped and a pleased smile on his face as he lays back down on the grass. Yunho crawls up his body after a few long licks to clean him up, slumping against Changmin’s chest.

‘Can you take them out now?’ Yunho says groggily, shifting his legs. ‘They’re making me messy,’ Yunho can feel the tentacle slime sliding down his thigh.

‘Do I have to?’ Changmin sighs childishly, flicking one of the tentacles still lodged inside Yunho.

‘Changmin,’ Yunho scolds without any heat, eyelids drooping as the air becomes humid with the cycle shift, water on the pool misting.

‘You left me all alone this morning, what do you expect?’ Changmin retorts, mouth twisting into a pout at the memory. He frowns but then eases when he realises he can feel Yunho growing hard against his thigh.

‘And if I stay on board, you’re going to have to get used to the fact that I’m not going to be dragged around like an accessory by your tentacles and that you’ll have to behave in front of the crew,’ Yunho’s chin digs into Changmin’s chest as he looks up at the man.

Changmin perks up with excitement, meeting Yunho’s eyes and he smiles, hopeful, ‘You’re going to stay?’

Yunho smacks his shoulder weakly, ‘I don’t know- are you hiring?’ He grins cheekily.

‘I’m sure I can find a position,’ Changmin smirks, drawling ‘Maybe in the Captain’s bed-‘ Yunho smacks him again with more force, aiming for Changmin’s head the second time and hitting a nose instead. ‘Ah- okay, okay, stop. We could do with a nurse,’ Changmin catches Yunho’s offending hand, bringing it up to his mouth for a kiss and smiling so brightly it beats out the artificial sunlight pouring into the room.

‘Well then, Captain,’ Yunho grins back broadly, fingers tangling amongst Changmin’s tentacles, ‘It looks like you’ve found yourself a new crew member.’ Yunho sits up, straddling Changmin’s waist, ‘And for the record- I expect to be paid generously.’


End file.
